Chema Madoz
Odalys Galería de Arte/Fundación Dop Caracas
The first impression when viewing Chema Madoz’s (Spain, 1958) images is one of surprise and perplexity. Then we will identify this impression with the surrealist touch in her work. At a later stage, we will dwell on the warmth of the grain and the compositional purity of the nuances ranging from white to black.
Evoking the past and narrating the absurd, his photographs do not leave the viewers indifferent; at least, they smile. These pictures are metaphors of the absurd and of contradictory issues that reflect the photographer’s keen imagination. Dreams in which the artist satirizes reality. Many of us understand photography as a narration of personal experiences. Madoz changes this vision by relating objects to their different uses, and he re-creates the child’s imagination we all have inside of us.
Madoz leaves testimonial photography behind to give way to an image that allows itself − without any complexes − to attract the viewer towards the photographer, and allows the viewers to identify themselves − with a wink − with the chimerical proposal. Impeccably solved from the technical point of view, the facture of these pieces is also captivating. The artist has recently won the Spanish National Photography Award and the Higasikawa Prize (Japan), among other distinctions.
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Untitled/ Sin título, 1982.
Black and white photograph on barite paper. Open edition, 23.6 x 17.7 in. Signed on the back./Fotografía blanco y negro sobre papel baritado al sulfuro. Edición abierta, 60 x 45 cm. Firmado al dorso
