JUAN BARAJA / CATHEDRALES
29/02/2012.
Utopía Parkway Gallery. [MAD] Spain 2/03 - 13/04 2012
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA
The gallery "Utopia Parkway" presents "Cathedrals," the first solo exhibition in Madrid by photographer Juan Baraja (Toledo, 1984) that has spent three years working on this series of nine photographs. Although at first the idea was to confront interior grandeur of cathedrals and others great interiors, however the fascination about interiors and architecture of cement factories causes them to become the unique setting of the camera lens. He himself explains this in the following text.
¿Es la belleza una cualidad concreta de una cosa, de un objeto, algo que pueda describirse y nombrarse, o no será, más bien, un estado del espíritu, no tendrá que ver con el sentir del hombre?
Peter Zumthor (Pensar la arquitectura)
"Se dirige uno por la catedral escaleras arriba de una manera casi inexplicable, lleno de soberbia, con una sutil paciencia y una desgarradora prisa hacia ese cielo profundo que muchos prometían, escapando de lo carnal y buscando desesperadamente hallar lo divino. Sin estos propósitos avanzo por la cementera encontrando lugares que tienen que ver con la idea perseguida en el templo cristiano, pero que lejos del concepto religioso se acercan sin embargo a lo formal del edificio. La idea de verticalidad y los grandes espacios que la catedral gótica había logrado, al perder el muro su función de soporte se repiten en la arquitectura de la cementera por cuestiones puramente técnicas y de funcionalidad. Las partes más altas de la fábrica, espacios casi olvidados, llenos de maquinaria pesada y cubiertos por una gruesa capa de polvo gris o blanco, responden a esa búsqueda impaciente de los fieles por encontrar lo etéreo y lo sobrehumano ahí arriba".
Juan Baraja
Venue.- Utopia Parkway Gallery. C/ Reina, 11. 28004 - Madrid.
Schedule.- 2/03 - 13/04. 2012
Juan Baraja works with the relationships that arise between architecture and space management through photography.
The journey and the experiences of the human being in the built spaces perpetuate an emotional relationship on which Baraja reflects from very different fields and points of view. Structures, material and light build these places.
The precise and careful composition for each image characterize the result of the analysis made by the photographer, without forgetting the feeling that arises in each place from the experience itself. And the fact is that both lines and constructive elements, far from appearing novel, show Baraja's subjective look, where light plays an essential role, characteristic not only of the atmosphere of the place, but also of the photographic technique itself.
We enter a meticulously studied landscape that transcends beyond the specific place and allows us to fix our attention on every detail.
There is no doubt about his particular work methodology, that which always imposes a slow rhythm necessary to dedicate enough time to each shot, that which orders and fixes the thought for its subsequent translation to the final format.