Lisa en Buenos Aires

Alberto García-Alix

Date: 2005

Technique: Gelatin silver bromide and selenium coating on barite paper

Dimensions: 110 x 110 cm

Edition: 2/3

Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma

Reg. no.: 621

Not on display

Alberto García-Alix, a chronicler who is faithful to every era and moment he has lived through, is – as defined by himself – a person who takes photographs. An advocate of analogue, he takes his photos by shooting without contemplating composition, gesture or theme. Self-portraits and portraits of unknown characters, outsiders, and recognised names, those who are very close to him or people he empathizes with, his own environment has always been his most direct source and formed the main body of his work. And also the search for settings, as well as intangible moments outdoors that are a way of expressing his interior. Recently he has included the urban landscape of cities or the natural environment, like that of Formentera, but without straying from his constant searches. A reflection of situations and mirrors of internal emergences and breakdowns as revealing as the direct gaze of his subjects.

Lisa en Buenos Aires, a photograph taken during a trip in 2005, captures Lisa, the partner with whom he lived in Paris, at the furtive moment of their stay in Buenos Aires, a city held dear by the artist and one which recurs frequently over his career. Lisa, one of the important women in his life, has been portrayed by García-Alix on numerous occasions but it was at this exact moment that the soul and character of the person is reflected for him. This black and white image, captured precisely during the earliest hours of the dawn, impacts the shot of the protagonist’s face, the result of the photographer’s exercise which observes from a stance of objectivity and the depth of having evidence of the being, beyond physical appearance; a sincere portrait which freezes the strong presence of the person portrayed, his vision of her and the intensity of moments that are fleeting, yet absolutely real.

E.B.