Introduction

Artificial Paradises

The scent wafting off of Jose Ramon Ais’ airy field-scape series Hierbas is artificial and virtual – and yet it draws you into an all too pristine nature. The photographs depict all forms of herbs from forest and field beneath a sensationally created skyscape, for which the Bilbao-based photographer, artist, and filmmaker uses tricky technical aids to achieve dramatic presentation. The plants, which are so carefully arranged, are set under an artificial sky through the process of chroma keying. Thus the grassy ensemble has the effect of having been brought to the stage by a garden director. The images revel in soft, impressionistic tones and in their artificial consistency remind one of dioramas from the 19th century. Then, artists used just as illusionistic effects to form a neat, apparently transition-free unity between real-life plants and painted backgrounds. Ais’ summer-fresh repertoire of images switches from compositional landscape photography to scenic naturalism. They exhibit influence from the Japanese art of Ikebana and engender an exquisite, airy naturalness not least through the rustling, wild growth of real plants. The grasshopper’s perspective further strengthens the airy overall impression and is augmented by a finely extracted, sharp focus. Thus can the viewer zoom in quite close on this virtual scent and flowered spectacle of field sorrel and balsam, lemon balm and Azores thyme. At the same time, the pictures are especially convincing as harmoniously balanced compositions. With each picture, you are put on the track of a new, artificial experience in nature that an elaborate photographer intentionally conjured into a garden of visual perception.

Stephan Reisner

Bio

1971	born in Bilbao, Spain
	Studied Art at the University of the Basque Country, Spain
1997 - 1999	Doctorate from the Fine Arts faculty of the University of Basque Country, Spain
	Awarded a grant from the École des Beaux Arts, Paris, France
1971	Lives and works in Bilbao, Spain

Awards

2004 Certamen de arte Alavés

Collections

	Los Bragales Collection
	Artium - Museum of Contemporary Art, Vitoria, Spain
	Marcelino Botín Foundation, Santander, Spain
	Bilbao Art Foundation, Bilbao, Spain
	Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Santander and Cantabria, Spain

Exhibitions

Single Exhibitions

2011 Hierbas, Galería José Robles, Madrid, Spain
2004 Decorativa.System On, Fundación Bilbao Arte, Bilbao, Spain
1998 Galería Artefacto, Vigo, Spain


Group Exhibitions

2010 Itinerarios 08 09 XVI Becas de Artes Plásticas, Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander, Spain
2009 El tiempo que venga, La Colección IX. Artium, Centro-Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Vitoria, Spain
2008 Descubrimientos 08, PhotoEspaña 2008, Complejo El Aguila, Madrid, Spanien
2006 Un dedo en el río, Exposición colectiva, Centro Cultural de España en Buenos Aires, Argentina
2005 Premiados Certamen de arte alavés, Sala Luís de Ajuria, Vitoria, Spain
2004 Ensamblajes”, Galería Sala de Emergencia. Exposición colectiva, Denia, Alicante, Spain
2003 Residentes 2003, Fundación Bilbao Arte, Bilbao, Spain
2003 Certamen de arte alavés, Sala Luis de Ajuria, Vitoria, Spain
2002 Lick the window, Atlanta College of Art Gallery, Atlanta, USA
2002 Accès(s), Festival accès(s) cultures électroniques 02. Pau, France
2002 Atracción - reacción, Festival de nuevas músicas, Arteleku, Donostia, Spain
2002 La Fiancerie, Burdeos, France
2001 Galería BF15, Lyon, France
2001 Ecole de Beaux Arts, Metz, France

Solo Exhibitions

2013	Solo exhibition, Trinta Gallery, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
2011	Hierbas, Galería José Robles, Madrid, Spain
2011	Alegría en el jardín, Galería Alegría, Barcelona, Spain
2004	Decorativa.System On, Bilbao Art Foundation, Spain
1998	Solo exhibition, Galería Artefacto, Vigo, Spain

Group Exhibitions

2013	Friedensvertrag 1813, San Telmo Museum, San Sebastián, Spain
2011	Falso paisaje, Galería Mecánica, Sevilla, Spain
2010	Itinerarios 08/09, XVI Becas de Artes Plásticas, Marcelino Botín Foundation, Santander, Spain
2009	El tiempo que venga - La Colección IX, Museum of Contemporary Art, Vitoria, Spain
2006	Un dedo en el río, Spanish Cultural Centre, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2005	Ensamblajes, Galería Sala de Emergencia, Alicante, Spain
2003	Residentes 2003, Bilbao Art Foundation, Spain
2003	Lick the window, Atlanta College of Art Gallery Atlanta, USA
2002	Buy- sell, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2001	Buy- sell, École de Beaux Arts, Metz, France
2000	Lost in Sound, Galician Contemporary Art Centre, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
1999	Enclaves, Galerie Amasté, Bilbao, Spain
1996	GGURE ARTEA 96, Sala Rekalde, Bilbao, Spain