This exhibition arose from observing nature and finding in it elements such as rocks, trees, roots, etc., that we associate with faces, characters, beings, etc. The photographs of which it is made up are the result of the encounter with those beings that populate nature and observe us without being altogether visible. These beings, when photographed or represented, become totems that reflect the powers of nature and remind us of our connection to it. The totems have been structured in two sections: “Portraits” and “Masks and Looks”.
Portraits
The right photographic composition brings about the miracle of giving life to these characters of nature and allowing them to be seen.
This series of photographs refers to primitive African or Oriental masks, a portrait of Arcimboldo, and takes us through the Avant Guard styles of art: Pointillism, Expressionism, Constructivism, Cubism, etc.
Masks and Looks
These series have been produced from elements that, when put together with their symmetrical opposite, complete a character. This has the beauty of perfect symmetry, an ideal and monstrous beauty that does not exist in nature – it is an “artificial” being. The mechanism for creating it, similar to that used by Dr. Frankenstein, is to bring together dead elements to create life. Where there was something indeterminate, a being has been created by means of symmetry. The convention that two symmetrical points make up two eyes – a look – is what gives this series realism.
The resulting faces or looks connect us, like a Rorschach test, with highly varied characters: those described in fantasy literature (H.P. Lovecraft, for example), the monsters of science fiction (the alien created by H. R. Giger), the human-like apes from Planet of the Apes, etc. Or they remind us of other cultures, such as those of Black Africa, Baroque Oriental Hindus or Buddhists, the American Mayas and Aztecs, etc.
Photographs of Guillem Vidal
Guillem Vidal is a designer and photographer.
He studied graphic design at the Escola Eina school of industrial design, where he also took his first steps in the world of photography.
He has exhibited his photographic work in several galleries and institutions.