Art Madrid'23 – New objectivity: from nature to industry

 

 

 

© Albert Renger-Patzsch

 

 

Renger-Patzsch (1897-1966) approaches to photography by his father´s influence, an amateur photographer. He studied Humanities and, after his military service (where he collaborated as a scientific assistant), he started Physics at the University of Dresde. However, he gave up his studies to dedicate entirely to photography. He also felt attracted to writing (he wrote more than thirty photography books). Foremost among these is “Die Welt ist schön” (The world is beautiful), 1928, that is a classic of modern photography. 

 

 

© Albert Renger-Patzsch

 

 

The exhibition is organised in several sections that presents an overview of his artistic career, which combine his personal projects with commercial practices. Renger-Patzsch was a relevant figure of the German New Objectivity, an artistic movement that emerged after the end of World War I as a reaction against the Expressionism that preceded it. This current strove to represent the world in the most objective way possible in a period in which Europe was going through numerous changes. He considered photography as a technical invention that belonged to the field of science.

 

 

© Albert Renger-Patzsch

 

 

In a first period, he worked for a publisher by making photographies of plants and flowers in a very severe and technical way. Neutral, dark or blurred backgrounds allowed focusing on details. He developed a careful and thoughtful method which lets him represent an objective and faithful reality. His first photographs are compilated in the book “Die Welt ist schön”, formed by 100 images that show nature and human developments: plants, landscapes, objects, architecture, city, industry, etc. These artworks enhance the importance of the industry and seriality, highlighting the perspective and the contrast of lights and shadows.

 

 

© Albert Renger-Patzsch

 

 

It can be seen how the artist keep on eye on the modern city. This is consider the place where the new and the old violently coexist. Using geometry he propose complicated frames. Lately, he focused on the peaceful feeling that nature brings; he used to walk a long time to find out the best conditions to take his pictures. Then, he paid attention to organic shapes in nature, such as the different textures that contrast with industry pulid surfaces.

 

 

© Albert Renger-Patzsch

 

 

Renger-Patszch proposes a view that focuses on the new era. His photographs can be visited during summer months until the 10th of September in Mapfre Foundation Recoletos Hall, where can also be enjoyed an exhibition about portrait in the 20th century, in which different artists from all around the world and historical moments approach to the human figure in a variety of ways.

 

 

© Albert Renger-Patzsch

 

 

In the year 2020 in the heart of Barcelona a wandering gallery was born, the same one that in February 2021 would debut at Art Madrid with an exhibition proposal focused on contemporary portraits; with this subject matter it would manage to create a powerful dialogue between artwork and audience and make the seal Inéditad remain in the history of the event that contained it.

Jean Carlos Puerto. Protección. Oil and copper leaf on wood. 60 x 48. 2021. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Since that first time and until today, the wandering gallery has managed to build projects on otherness, has repositioned in the spotlight the discourses on the LGTBIQ+ collective, has consolidated a group of artists who share its principles of resilience and empathy and the best thing is that it continues to bet from the professionalism and commitment to give voice to the difference.

Claudio Petit-Laurent.. El Joven de la Perla. Oil on wood. 30 x 30 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Inéditad Gallery, thanks to its founder Luis López, its collaborators and the infinite possibilities manifested in the works of the artists it represents, is a gallery that has demonstrated its capacity and courage to stimulate the sensibility of the public through art and seduce a generation that moves between the glass window and the analogical story. Inéditad is a nomadic gallery that has gathered around it a community of artists and has moved the context with exhibition projects that think about LGTBIQ+ art without prejudices.

Pepa Salas Vilar. Las marcas del arcoiris. Oil on canvas. 40 x 50 cm. 2022. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Pride and Prejudice was inaugurated. An exhibition that brings together the works of sixteen artists: Abel Carrillo, Alex Domènech, Carlos Enfedaque, Silvia Flechoso, Jamalajama, Daniel Jaén, Claudio Petit-Laurent, Jean Carlos Puerto, Fernando Romero, Pablo Rodríguez, Pepa Salas Vilar, Jack Smith, Pablo Sola, Bran Sólo, Elia Tomás and Utürüo. Painting, illustration, photography and digital art are the manifestations that bring into dialogue around fifty neatly threaded pieces, in a discursive line that discusses such a latent phenomenon as discrimination. To achieve this, the artists invited to the exhibition question themselves whether: Does discrimination exist within the LGTBIQ+ collective?

Pride and Prejudice Official Poster. Image courtesy of the gallery.

With approaches on and from the body, the proposal invites to celebrate diversity, proposes to question and self-question the prejudices and attitudes of society against the collective. Pride and Prejudice is a space for dialogue about the constructs imposed on us by society. It is also an oasis in which to deconstruct with tolerance and respect the subjectivities that sometimes prevent us from approaching the production of the participating artists, simply because "the beautiful" does not fit in an androgynous body. The subjugation of stereotypes are pressed with determination to find the beauty of diversity in other palpable facets of reality.

Pablo Sola. All men are dogs. Photography. 2014. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Throughout these three years Inéditad has stimulated the vindictive projection towards bad practices, has questioned estates around the LGTBIQ+ body and the most admirable thing, is that these capacities have resurfaced around the dialogue and the visual narrative of the stories that are told from the visual: Artworks that are people, art that is, per se, humanity. Overcome impositions and accept what is different in order to continue fighting against homophobia, biphobia, lesbophobia or transphobia and defend the equal rights that all the acronyms of the collective deserve in our community.

That's Pride and Prejudice: One creature, the happiest in the world. And maybe other projects and other people have said it - or felt it - before, but none so fairly.

Silvia Flechoso. Hola, soy maricón. Oil on canvas. 73 x 54 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

From June 8th until June 22nd you can visit Pride and Prejudice. Carrer de Palau núm. 4. Canal Gallery space. Barcelona.