Artificio

"Artificio” (Artifice) Andrea Robbins & Max Becher and Sergio Belinchón June 12 through July 25, 2003 PHE03 Robbins & Becher (Boston, born 1963 and Dusseldorf, born 1964) and more recently Belinchón (Valencia, born 1971) have often been characterized by following the tradition of objective documentary photography begun by Bernard and Hilla Becher, but with a pictorial focus on color. Using light objectives and a wide angle and only the existing light. Belinchón avoids structuring the image in a centralized manner: your gaze veers towards an apparently unimportant spot. Not Robbins & Becher, who focus their angle up front and below, similar to that of the Bechers´, taking the picture from above. In this sense, their series appear to etch reality in the most simple form possible. The result is marked by a deep skepticism against the notions of reality and authenticity. The photographs for the ARTICIFIO exhibition–included in the PhotoEspaña- off-festival, document the construction of fantasy, the architecture of leisure... are settings created exclusively for the consumption of pleasure: an approach to how forms are elaborated and presented so that fantasy becomes reality. How they manage to confuse us, how pretense and reality become one and the same. The photographs focus on the details that make up the industry of escapism -casinos, theme parks or movie sets - space, light, the effects of color, proportions.... These spaces are designed to seduce us and allow us to take on a different role even if only for a short while while traveling through time and space. Public, yet empty, spaces ordered by architecture within an urban context (in the non-urban), offering a panoply of details that are never dominating: photographic inventories that become symbols of western civilization, photographers in the age of globalization, photographs that deliberately compete on a large scale with the images of everyday culture, the icons of modernity, happy places with an anthropologic interest, recreating leisure as a blend of technique and culture, urban culture that awakes a feeling of nostalgia in the observer, who is overcome by a certain uneasiness and tries to give meaning to the place, to unveil its secret. Andrea Robbins (Boston 1963) & Max Becher (Düsseldorf (1964) , live and work in New York , they have held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago(2002). Sonnabend Gallery , New York (2001). Yerba Buena Center for the Arts , San Francisco(2001) . The Modern Art Museum of San Francisco (1996). “Trade Routes” The New Museum of Conteporary Art , New York (1993). “Housing , Homelessness,city” Dia Art Foundation , New York (1989)… among others. We can view their works at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Los Angeles County Museum of Art , Los Angeles. Guggenheim Museum New York . The Jewish Museum , New York. Museum of Contemporary Photography of Chicago. Center for Creative Photography , Tucson. . San Francisco Museum of Modern Art , San Francisco… Sergio Belinchón (Valencia, 1971) lives in Valencia and is currently working in Berlin, having been awarded the Fotopress Scholarship by La Caixa. He regularly exhibits his work at the Luis Adelantado Gallery in Valencia (2003, 2002). CaixaForum, Barcelona (2003). “Ciudad” Palau de la Virreina, Barcelona (2003). “Atacama” Casa de América, Madrid (2002). Universidad Carlos III in Pamplona (2002). “Roma” Consorcio de Museos, Valencia.(2001). Bienal de Tenerife (1999). We can also his work at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid). Fonds Nationales d’Art Contemporaine de France. The Coca-Cola Foundation in Madrid. Obra Social Caja de Madrid (Madrid)... Robbins & Becher >Almería and Old Tucson series Belinchón >Paraíso series.

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Artificio (Artifice)
Andrea Robbins & Max Becher and Sergio Belinchon