Exhibition dates:
September 9 – 30, 2016
at 960 Madison Avenue,
New York, NY 10021
This September, Waterhouse & Dodd, the international dealership with galleries in Europe and the USA, presents a major exhibition in New York of black and white photographs by renowned artist Xavier Guardians.
An avid traveler and explorer, Guardans spent a decade traveling the globe shooting a wide variety of landscapes and rock formations, each one incorporating a beautiful nude.
These forty-five works are definitively not images of nudes gratuitously decorating the wild outdoors.
These forty-five works are definitively not images of nudes gratuitously decorating the wild outdoors.
Ray Waterhouse, Guardans' dealer, said, "The works really are a three way collaboration between artist, model and landscape. The integration of the women in the diverse landscapes is incredibly creative – the girls are portrayed both as gorgeous women and anonymous accompaniments to rock formations."
Waterhouse also acclaims the sheer quality of these stunning photographs, "Xavier's work is beautiful, unique, technically brilliant, and also, sexy. The quality of the printing, rich in contrasts, means that the digital reproductions you see on a screen in no way convey the amazing quality and detail of the actual fine art photographs. These works have to be seen in person."The landscapes exhibited range from Japan, China, and Patagonia, to Utah and California, simultaneously exposing universal truths about natural beauty and our relationship to our surroundings.
Guardans himself notes that the series is "A story of interchangeable roles, in search of a silent common ground."
None of the five women featured are models. Guardans was inspired by both the landscapes he discovered and by these powerful female artists.
The results convey the confidence of women in the 21st century.
As one of the women, Grace Villamil said, "The experience of being in his portraits is a steady balance that goes beyond photographer and subject, or subject and photographer. The roles feel interchangeable as the day passes, constantly switching into each other's shoes in inspiration, for direction."The book of the same title, Self-Portraits, will be published in the USA September 27. Waterhouse & Dodd's New York show exhibits and illustrates the forty-five works and has evocative text written by the women portrayed.
Born in Barcelona in 1954, Guardans received his education at the Bournemouth College of Art in England, graduating with a degree in photography in 1982. Guardans has since had an extremely successful career with important exhibitions in Europe and USA, and has held shows at such prestigious museums as the White Chapel Art Center in London (1981); Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de España, Madrid (1986); and Museo Contemporaneo de Ibiza (1998). Guardans currently lives and works in New York City; The Center of Creative Photography in Tucson; and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid.
