The
works that I present here form part of a series of work that I
have been developing over time. They form the continuation of
reflections related to the mechanisms that systematize our glance
and that bias a specific reading of a determined historic event.
I have also been interested in the role that texts and images
play to refer to historical events and to perceive and construct
History.
-Ricardo Elías
In general, the photographic
work of Elías does not involve us emotionally but it
distances us from the theme. This Brecht-like resort makes us
coldly face a dilemma as if it were taking place on stage in
front of us.
-Meira Marrero
Epoca (Epoch)
This photographic series by Elías
presents in diptychs the same points of reference - the stairs
of the University of Havana, San Lazaro Street, the Havana "Malecon,"
Revolution Square -- taken from a televised documentary scene,
together with a current photo of the same place taken at that
actual location.
Thus the difference between a
glance and reality through a photographic lens is evident. As
the picture includes the perforations of the photographic negative,
we can observe that the same images had been taken consecutively,
the result of a decision prior to closing the camera's shutter
rather than a chance result or by later juxtaposition of the
two.
-Meira Marrero
Hagan juego, señores (Place Your Bets, Gentlemen)
This deals with triptychs whose
axis (central image) is a photo of a roulette wheel from one
of the many casinos that used to be in Havana, a still shot
of a documentary image from television.
Because 36 is the number of slots
on a roulette wheel, the complete series is composed of 36 different
photos from documentaries and films, placed on both sides of
the central image. (Here 6 triptychs will be exhibited.) These
are photographs of people, events and places that do not have
a clearly defined relationship among themselves but that Elías
now presents before our eyes once more thanks to and by the
grace of chance.
-Meira Marrero
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