For his unique photographic technique, Pep Ventosa has already won several international awards. In a single image, the Spanish photographer achieves an extraordinary fusion of optical depth and spectacular perspective. His selected works…
In his series "The Collective Snapshot", Pep Ventosa makes dynamic works out of art touristic motifs. He completely reinterprets architectural icons and molds them into a new form. Ventosa is an explorer in the frontier of photography that discovers new ways to break through the medium’s limitations. He deconstructs and reconstructs photographs to create new visual experiences that question our habit of seeing. In 2012 he was honored with the American Icon Competition Award.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
For his unique photographic technique, Pep Ventosa has already won several international awards. In a single image, the Spanish photographer achieves an extraordinary fusion of optical depth and spectacular perspective. His selected works show the silhouette of a tree, captivating with its shimmering colours which resemble gentle brush strokes. Like the treetops, the background also seems fainter, the air swollen with mysterious movement.
Virtuoso overlay of countless individual images
Pep Ventosa surrounds the tree with his camera and creates, through the overlaying of countless individual images, a completely new and unfamiliar view. The way we observe is expanded and grows into a fantastic multi-layered space of memory and fantasy. The result is a dense narrative with a powerful aesthetic that follows the cyclical change of seasons with a distinctive repertoire of forms and colours.
Tree silhouettes as a fantastic spectacle of nature
The motif of the tree is a symbol of nature as a whole. Particularly because of their mythical age, trees are valued as great and awe-inspiring plants throughout the world’s cultures. Trees are also considered a symbol of life. Pep Ventosa transforms the picturesque silhouettes into a stunning spectacle. He characterizes them so expressively that they seem almost as complex as other living beings we encounter. His series ‘In the Round – Trees’, acts as an atmospheric discussion of iconic quality.
THE COLLECTIVE SNAPSHOT
Pep Ventosa's project "The Collective Snapshot" puts together hundreds of photographs into a picture sandwich immensely increasing the appetite for what we often see: landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge vibrate full of energy; the Brandenburg Gate performs a tap dance; the Eiffel Tower pirouettes; and the Coliseum beats time in the historical Roman earth. Decoding the images is a delightful game; one's own memories become another level of Ventosa's meta-snapshots.
Driven by his creative élan, Pep Ventosa lures us to further famous landmarks around the world. Snapshots taken from tourists’ favored vantage points make up the foundation of his works. He creates images that exude familiarity but whose evanescence constitutes a new visual experience that has at its core the collective world of images.
The artist himself says: "What grows is an unique new narrative space that never actually happened, where the whole has traveled mysteriously further than what the camera documented. Part memory, part imagination. Not unlike the way we see."
The Spaniard, who moved from Barcelona to the San Francisco Bay Area, is a specialist in dismantling and joining together. He imitates and clarifies in a thorough, individual method of the process of seeing. Curators of the New York Guggenheim Museum and other institutions of similar rank have praised his well-traveled (but anything other than touristic) sight, leading to the inclusion of his work in a number of prestigious collections, along the west coast of the United States in particular.
Horst Klöver
BIOGRAPHY
La Repubblica, Italy, 2014
Reykjavik Boulevard, Creative Guide, 2014
HuffPost Arts & Culture, 2012
Crazy Photography, 2012
AZART Photographie Magazine, March, 2009
10x15, Madrid, 2009
Esquire Magazine, September, 2008
Orange Life Magazine, Canada, 2008
Digital Collage and Painting, Professor Susan Ruddick Bloom, Focal Press, 2006
American 24/7, Rick Smolan and David Elliot Cohen, DK Publishing, 2003
7x7 Magazine, San Francisco, California, 2004
Best of Photography Annual, Photographer’s Forum Magazine, 2004
San Francisco Chronicle, California, 10/2004 & 1/2005
El Punt, Catalunya, Spain, 3/2004
el 3 de vuit, Penedès, Spain, 10/2003 & 3/2004
Half Moon Bay Review, California, 2007
La Fura, Vilafranca, Spain, 10/2003 & 3/2004
VITA
Born in 1957 in Vilafranca del Penedès (Barcelona), Spain, Ventosa currently lives near San Francisco, California.
A lifelong passion for photography began with his first camera at the age of 10. He went on to attend the Escola d’Arts i Oficis Artístics de l’Alt Penedès in Vilafranca to learn the mechanics of the darkroom. While the intervening years were spent pursuing musical aspirations – becoming an accomplished drummer with several recorded albums – the digital revolution in photography brought Ventosa strongly back to the visual medium. He taught himself the possibilities of the new digital darkroom, focusing on an exploration of the photographic image and the new forms it can take, and quickly made a name as an artist adept at deconstructing and reconstructing images into a new visual experience. His creative work processes are now used as a teaching guide for photography students.
Exhibitions
2011
Arc Gallery, San Francisco, California
2010
Photographers Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Kelly Street Gallery, Half Moon Bay, California
Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain
2007
Musee de l'Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland
ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair, with Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Madrid, Spain (2007 & 2005)
DFOTO, International Contemporary Photography and Video-Art Fair, with Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, San Sebastian, Spain (2007 & 2005)
2006
Space 743 Gallery, San Francisco, California
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Clayton, Missouri. Jury selected by Bonne Stutski, Senior Editor of the Smithsonian Magazine
Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, California. Jury selected by Laura Richard Janku, editor-in-chief of Artweek
Coastal Arts League Gallery & Museum, Half Moon Bay, California (2006 & 2004)
Firart Penedès, Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain (2006 & 2004)
2005
ARTissima, The International Fair of Contemporary Art, with Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Torino, Italy
Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain
Viridian Artists XVI National Exhibition, New York City. Jury selected by the late curator of 20th Century Art at New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Robert Rosenblum
Crocker Art Museum, Crocker-Kingsley Exhibition, Sacramento, California. Jury selected by pop artist Mel Ramos. Ventosa’s work remains in the permanent collection of the Crocker Art Museum.
Caminos de Hierro Exhibition, 16 cities in Spain (2005 & 2004). Jury selected by the Royal Photographic Society of Madrid.
2004
Museum of Contemporary Art, Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, Colorado
Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show, Harvard Square, Massachusetts. Jury selected by Robert Fitzpatrick, Pritzker Director and CEO of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Sala dels Trinitaris, Catalunya's biennial "Primavera Fotográfica", Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain
Marin Society of Artists National Exhibition, Ross, California. Jury selected by Robert Shaw, Professor of Art, University of California, Berkeley
American 24/7 Exhibitions - Traveling exhibition to Manhattan’s Bryant Park, Grand Central Station and International Center of Photography, the United Nations main lobby, Washington DC's Union Station, Corcoran Gallery and Smithsonian Institutes, San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences, and the Denver Museum of Natural History
Group Exhibitions
2015
Studio Gallery, San Francisco, California
2014
ProArts Gallery, Oakland, California
2012
Village Theatre Art Gallery, Danville, California
2011
Arc Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA
2010
Photographers Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA
Kelly Street Gallery, Half Moon Bay, California, USA
Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain
2007
Musee de l'Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland
ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair, with Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Madrid, Spain (2007 & 2005)
DFOTO, International Contemporary Photography and Video-Art Fair, with Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, San Sebastian, Spain (2007 & 2005)
2006
Space 743 Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA
St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Clayton, Missouri, USA. Jury selected by Bonne Stutski, Senior Editor of the Smithsonian Magazine
Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, California, USA. Jury selected by Laura Richard Janku, editor-in-chief of Artweek
Coastal Arts League Gallery & Museum, Half Moon Bay, California, USA (2006 & 2004)
Firart Penedès, Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain (2006 & 2004)
2005
ARTissima, The International Fair of Contemporary Art, with Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Torino, Italy
Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain
Viridian Artists XVI National Exhibition, New York City. Jury selected by the late curator of 20th Century Art at New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Robert Rosenblum
Crocker Art Museum, Crocker-Kingsley Exhibition, Sacramento, California. Jury selected by pop artist Mel Ramos. Ventosa’s work remains in the permanent collection of the Crocker Art Museum.
Caminos de Hierro Exhibition, 16 cities in Spain (2005 & 2004). Jury selected by the Royal Photographic Society of Madrid.
2004
Museum of Contemporary Art, Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, Colorado, USA
Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show, Harvard Square, Massachusetts. Jury selected by Robert Fitzpatrick, Pritzker Director and CEO of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Sala dels Trinitaris, Catalunya's biennial "Primavera Fotográfica", Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain
Marin Society of Artists National Exhibition, Ross, California. Jury selected by Robert Shaw, Professor of Art, University of California, Berkeley
American 24/7 Exhibitions - Traveling exhibition to Manhattan’s Bryant Park, Grand Central Station and International Center of Photography, the United Nations main lobby, Washington DC's Union Station, Corcoran Gallery and Smithsonian Institutes, San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences, and the Denver Museum of Natural History
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About Pep VentosaFor his unique photographic technique, Pep Ventosa has already won several international awards. In a single image, the Spanish photographer achieves an extraordinary fusion of optical depth and spectacular perspective. His selected works…
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