3 March - 16 April 2023 - Solo show "Complex mind" Experimental analogue photography - Alex Rispal

The drawer (La calaixera) 110 x 110 -

El Periodic interview to Àlex Rispal, February 25 th 2023

Àlex Rispal is an Andorran artist. He studied a degree in Photography and completed a postgraduate course in early techniques and image creation at the Institut d'Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya in Barcelona and currently works in his studio in Madrid, Spain. His work focuses on experimentation with the object, light and photosensitive material.

On the 3rd of March he has an exhibition tittled 'Ment Trucada' at the Taranmana gallery. This is his first solo exhibition. How does it feel to have your own exhibition?

-It is a pride and a pleasure to be able to do the first individual exhibition here in my country, in the context of the gallery; in the end we always go back to our origins, and the truth is that I am very happy that Aminda Saludes of the Taranmana gallery has opted for the project.

-What is 'Troubled Mind'?

- It is a project that tries to give shape to complex sensations generated by the mind, a contorted/distorted mind, the result of an anxious interpretation of reality. The work is a tool to explore these thoughts and at the same time to deal with them, thoughts or fears related to existence, body awareness or loneliness. In the end it is an exploration of anxiety.

-Everything comes from personal experiences, doesn't it?

-The works of artists are self-centered, we all seek or work on topics of personal interest, in this case the exploration of anxiety. It has been a very complicated project, not only in the technical part, but also in the emotional part because you show your vulnerability, in front of an issue that affects you in your daily life.

-And even so, anxiety helped you create this exhibition, didn't it?

-Yes, to create it yes, in the end it is the basis of the project, the exploration of sensations that generate anxiety and the result is this. Thanks for working it from the inside, but working under these kinds of premises with so much emotional involvement makes the creative process quite difficult.

-What techniques do you use?

–The works are images made on gelatin silver paper, that is, photosensitive where I work in an analogue or analogue way. The idea of ??this project is to combine the technique of the direct positivity of the images of the characters and, with the pictorial technique of the 'chemigram', I achieve these results. I use the photographic development chemicals to paint on the gelatin silver paper. This technique is what I used to represent the landscapes. And the direct positivity and techniques like the frame to represent the characters.

-What can a person who plans to visit expect?

-In this project, a very important part of the work is the viewer, because he is the one who has the final experience. The main idea is to generate sensations, I feel that the works do not only talk about anxiety, in the end they are distorted thoughts that can be analyzed very differently by the viewer.