GUATEMALA – MIDDAY’S NIGHT AT THE GALERÍA REBELDE
This is the first solo exhibition of the renowned Guatemalan photographer Andrés Asturias at the gallery. With intimate images of contemporary still lifes photographed in his home, Asturias lets us delve into the inner world of the photographer in his studio. Thus, La Galería Rebelde is transformed into a garden of strange and unique natures that in simple or highly elaborate arrangements surround us in a greenhouse of colors, sizes, stories, shadows and moods.
This nature is presented to us as a "staging of flowers, altars, offerings, affection, nostalgia, worked behind the scenes", Asturias comments. And this "Backstage" to which the photographer refers is not a coincidence or an aphorism, but the very invitation he makes us to approach his work in a more intimate and personal way.
“I like that testimony of the work as a contrast to the staging of nature's flowers, where the final result is already edited. So I can give a touch of reality to such perfect flowers", Asturias mentions. "I am interested in the duality of not equaling the beauty of flowers but in this freer method to propose an interesting dialogue with the work table, the lights, the colored cardboard, and what complements the scene of a contemporary still life", he adds.
This sincerity behind the scenes is also an invitation that the photographer makes us to the intimacy of his work, a work that on other occasions prioritizes the technical and neatness of the final result and that here shows us a personal side of his art, his craft and his home, not without exhausting the technical perfection of a gardener who knows how to build gardens and a photographer who knows how to build images.
“The idea of the fragility of flowers is a key part of the series for me. These are already cut, they are in the process of dying, and that is the important thing. We see both dried flowers and perfect and beautiful flowers in transition period. I am very interested in the sincerity of the process that does not choose its props either. In the work Tu naturaleza rebelde sostiene mi corazón (You rebellious nature hold my heart), we see one of the roses being supported by a copper wire to control its fall, because it needed to stay in position, but did not want to hide that process. These interventions also make me part of the creation of the image where there are spontaneous and controlled things”, the photographer mentions. And so, the bright colors of the frames, flowers and backgrounds attract us in a striking invitation to identify ourselves with these offerings and let us be captivated by the sincerity of an image seen from its process, from the eye of its creator.
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“Noche de Mediodía”, Andrés Asturias, 2021. Fotografía digital impresa en inyección de tinta sobre papel fine art, 147.5 x 112 cm, 1 de 2 + PA. Cortesía de La Galería Rebelde. Crédito de la imagen: Andrés Asturias.
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Vista de sala: “Noche de Mediodía” de Andrés Asturias en La Galería Rebelde. Cortesía de La Galería Rebelde.
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“Destellos de gloria iluminaron todo el día”, Andrés Asturias, 2021. Fotografía digital impresa en inyección de tinta sobre papel fine art, 147.5 cm x 112 cm, 1 de 2 + PA. Cortesía de La Galería Rebelde. Crédito de la imagen: Andrés Asturias.
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Vista de sala: “Noche de Mediodía” de Andrés Asturias en La Galería Rebelde. Cortesía de La Galería Rebelde.
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“Aquí el dolor se olvida de suspirar y el amor de llorar”, Andrés Asturias, 2021. Fotografía digital impresa en inyección de tinta sobre papel fine art, 84 x 112 cm, 1 de 2 + PA. Cortesía de La Galería Rebelde. Crédito de la imagen: Andrés Asturias.
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“Perfumes Divinos”. Fotografía digital impresa en inyección de tinta sobre papel fine art. 112 x 147.5 cm.
Andrés Asturias (Guatemala, 1978) is a cultural activist and photographer, and founder and director of the cultural space La ERRE and Editorial RARA. He has been in charge of the photographic review and editing of the second and third edition of the book Eterna Primavera, Eterna Tiranía by photographer and journalist Jean-Marie Simon. In addition, he was co-curator of the 2021 edition of the GuatePhoto International Photography Festival and since 2011 he has been in charge of the photographic archive of the Julio Zadik Estate.
As an artist, his participation in the exhibition Home — So Different, So Appealing at the LACMA Museum (Los Angeles, USA, 2017), Encubrimientos at the Instituto Cervantes, as part of the PHotoEspaña festival (Madrid, Spain, 2010), Arquitectura de Remittances at Casa América (Madrid, Spain 2011), Z4 at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (San José, Costa Rica, 2016). His individual exhibitions include Otoro at Espacio Cultural La Erre (Guatemala, 2019). Deus ex Machina at the GuatePhoto Festival (Guatemala 2018) Arena Negra at the MARTE Museum (San Salvador, El Salvador 2012) and Sol del Rio at the (Guatemala, 2010). His photographic work has been exhibited in museums, galleries and art institutions in the US, Germany, China, Holland, Mexico, Spain, Peru, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala.
Andrés Asturias: Midday’s Night
Until January 20, 2022
La Galería Rebelde
Guatemala City
