"In a way, photography has been my way of thinking, putting some thoughts together in a stretch—enough to make the picture ask questions, philosophical questions about the world." --Albelardo Morell
Abelardo Morell was born in Havana, Cuba in 1948. After fleeing in 1962, he moved to in New York where he earned a Bachelor of Arts from Bowdoin College in 1977, and a Master of Fine Arts from Yale University School of Art in 1981. He received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Bowdoin in 1997.He is best known for his work with a camera obscura, a device that consists of a box with a hole in one side. When light from an external scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside, it is reproduced, upside-down, but without changing color and perspective. He takes an ordinary room and transforms it into a camera by placing black plastic over all of the windows and leaving a 3/8" hole through which the light passes. He then sets up his view camera in the room, points it at the opposite wall, opens the lens and lets the image appear on the film over the next eight hours. The result, a fusion between the outside and inside, letting the existing reality outside the window overpower the room.
Umbrian Landscape Over Bed, Umbertide, Italy, 2000
La Giraldilla de la Habana in Room With Broken Wall, 2002
The Empire State Building in Bedroom, 1994
Santa Maria della Salute in Palazzo Bedroom. Venice, Italy, 2006
His images are a paradox. You usually go to a room, especially a bedroom or a hotel room, to relax, unwind, disconnect from the outside world. You close your windows and blinds and let the world outside behind. But with his work, he is forcing you to confront the outside, accept it, because is everywhere you look. It takes over the space. At the same time, is not quite perfect. The image is upside down, interacting with everything in the room, changing our perception of reality and how we deal with it.
San Francisco View Looking East, 2002
All this empowering and mind-bending world from the outside is making its way through a little 3/8" hole...isn't that ironic, don't you think?
Take the time and learn more about Abelardo Morell and his other body of works,
here.
