Taking as a reference the rigidity of Asian architecture in some of the new large cities, Manuel Álvarez Diestro introduces the human element into his work for the first time to create a visual overlap that results in a system of layers that links and brings together the city portrayed with the city that welcomes and exhibits it and with the pedestrian in a single artistic element.
The photographs, which are arranged in different shop windows or markets, were intervened by pedestrians through graffiti or advertising posters, which the photographer sees as an opportunity to provoke reflection on the work that is made to be seen but is transformed into a canvas that allows itself to be intervened, turning his work into a starting point to which layers can be added.
Public Street art in Santander and Bilbao. Photograph by Manuel Álvarez Diestro.
Project description by Manuel Álvarez Diestro
Carrying out a photographic work on an existing one has not been an easy task, but it has been exciting. Connecting Asian megalopolises with Spanish cities is a continuous interest in my work as a visual artist. This was the case with my previous work on the vertical connection of the Spanish Levant with metropolises in Asia.
On this new occasion, thanks to the Artepeatonal initiative, I have been able to bring the great metropolises of Chongqing, Seoul, Incheon, Doha and Hong Kong closer to the cities of Bilbao and Santander, where the photographic works are exhibited in the city streets and markets.
In all the works in this series, I proposed the concept of capturing the photo within the photo, where Asian urban landscapes coexist with the vernacular architecture of the Spanish cities where they are exhibited. I also photographed the moments where the pedestrians/observers themselves interact with it, creating unexpected situations, sometimes connected as protagonists of the initial photograph and other times as mere observers.
On the one hand, the rigidity of Asian architecture itself is maintained as a starting point and on the other, the human element present in the works emerges in a second layer. In this visual overlap I can say that with this series it is the first time I have photographed people!
On another level of thought, many of the works were intervened through graffiti and advertising that were stuck to the pieces. Rather than feeling horrified, I thought of the opportunity to see my own work modified by the interventions of others. It seemed to me that it had an additional value in allowing us to reflect on the work that originates to be seen but is transformed into a canvas that can be intervened with “street art” approaches. Here we not only maintain the initial photo as a starting point but the photographer’s gaze in a second layer and which additionally has the intervention of a third party. In this three-way layer system, a symbiotic relationship is conjugated between the double and overlapping gaze of the photographer with the urban space.
