Fifty-Five Portraits and Self-Portraits (Paperback) | Released: 27 Aug 2019

This book contains fifty-eight portraits in color as well as black and white of humans, animals and mannequins in the most varied situations. Animals are presented dead and alive. This is why this collection is not intended for children of short age. The main reason why I include portraits of animals and mannequins is that, to me, they are also photographic objects with subjective value, both for humans and in themselves, at least as far as animals are concerned. Thus, when a sheep or a horse looks at us, the animal is conveying its subjective world to us, which we can only partly guess. For...who knows what is going on in the mind of the animal when it looks at us?. We can only guess the feelings through the look, that resembles our look in so many ways: tiredness, fear, anger, questioning, incomprehension, desire to reach to us and to understand us... we can feel their own feelings because we share an animal nature. In this respect, this collection contributes to improve the value of animals as sentient beings that deserve respect from humans. When we look a the dead face of a pig, we understand the value of life and also the value of death and of meat because we are actually looking at the face of a creature that has suffered an insensitive end of life at our hands so that we can continue to live, or at least, those who eat pork.The contemplation of animal portraits makes us question our own identity and how far psychologically we are from each other. We share many feelings with animals and we can find the same feelings that always occupy us in the portraits of animals.Also, I find certain mannequins fascinating as photographic objects. There is a feeling of unease when one looks at the eyes of some mannequins. Does their realistic look instill in us the feeling that they are alive?. Does our brain cheat us into feeling that a non-animated object is somewhat animated with the spark of life, only because of our contemplation of its eyes?. In some photographs, it is obvious that the mannequin is not alive. In others, the doubt can arise. In this respect, mannequins fulfill the role of ancient magical objects animated with life, such us lightning, the sky and its clouds, the sun, the moon, mountains, rocks and minerals of nature...all of them religious objects of different creeds. Mannequins are in fact the new religious objects of Mankind, this time around with commercial objectives. Perhaps religion was nothing else than a commercial enterprise to organize life among humans and a tool for some to exert their domination over the majority.In the collection, there are a number of self-portraits to be found too. I have tried to avoid the typical modern selfie-attitude and looked for atypical situations instead, trying to reach an artistic quality. The spectator will judge whether I have achieved my objective or not. In any case, the photographs do not intend to mimic reality. These are photographs intended for the visual pleasure as well. Therefore, I have taken on the subject with the intention of satisfying my aesthetic criteria. Reality can be exceedingly boring but, applying imagination to it, it can also be the departure point of an artistic investigation of the possibilities of form, light and color.The photographs here presented were taken in Ireland, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Belgium.