Viewing Room Main Site

PARIS PHOTO 2024

RGR celebrates the 100th anniversary of Surrealism with its participation in two sections of Paris Photo 2024. In the gallery’s Main Sector, the work of Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo —and his role on Surrealism— is presented vis a vis Carlos Cruz-Diez’s research on analog photography. This section showcases a collection of Cruz-Diez’s vintage photographs in black and white from the 50s, and an edition of Chris Marker’s Petite Planète travel guide on Venezuela, which includes images by Cruz-Diez on its inside pages. RGR’s booth also presents a contemporary selection of photocollages and color C-prints inspired by Surrealism, which features Karina Aguilera Skvirsky’s identity themed collages, Patrick Hamilton’s Atacama series on the Chilean desert landscape, Francisco Muñoz’s black and white photocollages of domestic interiors inhabited by humanoid figures, and Diego Perez’s C-prints on poetic interventions in natural environments.

In the gallery’s Voices Sector, RGR and the Archivo Manuel Álvarez Bravo present a limited edition of the series La buena fama durmiendo, by Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo. The series was originally produced in 1939, as part of an invitation from André Breton to Álvarez Bravo to participate in the International Exhibition of Surrealism that took place in Mexico in 1940.

Fifteen numbered portfolios have been edited, each containing six photographs printed in gelatin silver on 24 x 30.5 cm semi-matte baryta Bergger paper, and a booklet with a text by Clémet Chéroux about this edition. The printing was made at Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s original lab by José Ángel Rodríguez —the master’s trusted printer—, thus preserving the care and traditional techniques of the Mexican photographer.

MAB Bio

MANUEL ÁLVAREZ BRAVO  (Mexico City, Mexico, 1902 - Mexico City, Mexico, 2002)

Manuel Álvarez Bravo, one of the founders of modern photography, is considered the greatest representative of 20th century Latin American photography. His work extends from the late 1920s to the 1990s. He was born in the city center of the Mexican capital on February 4th, 1902. At age 12, to help with the family economy after the passing of his father, he interrupted his education and started working in a textile factory and eventually, at the General Treasury of the Nation. His grandfather, a painter, and his father, a teacher, were photography enthusiasts. This early discovery of the possibilities of the camera drove Álvarez Bravo to explore every photographic procedure and graphic technique in a self-taught manner.

He approached pictorialism initially, influenced by his studies in painting at the Academia de San Carlos. Later, he became interested in modern aesthetics, specifically in cubism and the possibilities of abstraction. In 1930, Tina Modotti was deported from Mexico, leaving her position at the Mexican Folkways magazine to Álvarez Bravo. This is how he got his start in documentary photography, by working for the muralist painters Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

Álvarez Bravo is an emblematic figure in the period following the Mexican Revolution, known as the Mexican Renaissance. This was a period whose artistic richness was due to the happy — though not always serene—, coexistence of an eagerness for modernization and a search for an identity, in which archeology, history, and ethnology played a relevant role. Álvarez Bravo incarnates both tendencies in the field of the visual arts.

Viewing Room VoW

Manuel Álvarez Bravo

La desvendada, Series: La buena fama durmiendo, 1939 - ca. 1980

Gelatin silver print

Unframed:
25.4 x 20.3 cm
10 x 8 in
Framed:
53 x 43 x 4 cm
20 3/4 x 17 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Manuel Álvarez Bravo

La desvendada, Series: La buena fama durmiendo, 1939 - ca. 1980

Gelatin silver print

Unframed:
25.4 x 20.3 cm
10 x 8 in
Framed:
53 x 43 x 4 cm
20 3/4 x 17 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Manuel Álvarez Bravo

La buena fama durmiendo, Series: La buena fama durmiendo, 1939 - ca. 1980

Gelatin silver print

Unframed:
20.3 x 25.4 cm
8 x 10 in
Framed:
43 x 53 x 4 cm
17 x 20 3/4 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Manuel Álvarez Bravo

La buena fama durmiendo, Series: La buena fama durmiendo, 1939 - ca. 1980

Gelatin silver print

Unframed:
20.3 x 25.4 cm
8 x 10 in
Framed:
43 x 53 x 4 cm
17 x 20 3/4 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire
CCD Bio

CARLOS CRUZ-DIEZ  (Caracas, Venezuela, 1923 - Paris, France, 2019)

Carlos Cruz-Diez was one of the most prominent figures of Kinetic art whose work has been based upon the revaluation of color as an experience in itself, as a phenomenon of light in which interpretation or cultural background is no longer relevant. Part of this research comes from photography. His artistic practice invites viewers to become conscious of how perceptual relationships constitute the aesthetic, and how every context implies a different approach and construction of the same artwork.

His research has positioned him as one of the key thinkers of the 20th century when it comes to color. He has contributed majorly to the possibility of rethinking the relations between artist, spectator, and art, framing them within a participative process rooted exclusively in the use of color. In 1959 Cruz-Diez began his series Physichromie, through which he realized the idea of chromatic autonomy and its impact upon the viewer’s environment; one of the results was an important body of work that in later decades surpassed the limits of painting and explored the transformation of diverse spaces through the manipulation of color.

His work emphasizes participation and interaction, spatial perception, and movement as the key elements of the artistic experience.

Viewing Room VoW

Carlos Cruz-Diez

La Burriquita, quarter El Silencio, Caracas, Venezuela, 1952

Gelatin silver print

Unframed:
7.5 x 7.5 cm
3 x 3 in
Framed:
31 x 25 x 2 cm
12 1/4 x 9 3/4 x 3/4 in

Inquire

Carlos Cruz-Diez

La Burriquita, quarter El Silencio, Caracas, Venezuela, 1952

Gelatin silver print

Unframed:
7.5 x 7.5 cm
3 x 3 in
Framed:
31 x 25 x 2 cm
12 1/4 x 9 3/4 x 3/4 in

Inquire

Carlos Cruz-Diez

Clarines, Anzoátegui State, Venezuela, 1948

Gelatin silver print

Unframed:
7.5 x 7.5 cm
3 x 3 in
Framed:
31 x 25 x 2 cm
12 1/4 x 9 3/4 x 3/4 in

Inquire

Carlos Cruz-Diez

Clarines, Anzoátegui State, Venezuela, 1948

Gelatin silver print

Unframed:
7.5 x 7.5 cm
3 x 3 in
Framed:
31 x 25 x 2 cm
12 1/4 x 9 3/4 x 3/4 in

Inquire

Carlos Cruz-Diez

Los Diablos de Yare, village of San Francisco de Yare, Miranda State, Venezuela, 1951

Gelatin silver print

Unframed:
7.5 x 7.5 cm
3 x 3 in
Framed:
31 x 25 x 2 cm
12 1/4 x 9 3/4 x 3/4 in

Inquire

Carlos Cruz-Diez

Los Diablos de Yare, village of San Francisco de Yare, Miranda State, Venezuela, 1951

Gelatin silver print

Unframed:
7.5 x 7.5 cm
3 x 3 in
Framed:
31 x 25 x 2 cm
12 1/4 x 9 3/4 x 3/4 in

Inquire
FM Bio

Francisco Muñoz  (Tlaxcala, Mexico, 1986)

Francisco Muñoz’s multidisciplinary practice includes ceramic, drawing, collage, painting, textiles, and installations. He studied at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado, La Esmeralda, in Mexico City, and later at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Lyon, as part of an artistic fellowship program. His work is placed in the questioning and analysis of national identities, especially in aesthetic terms. The artist is originally from Tlaxcala, a crucial place in the imaginary produced by the official history of Mexico regarding the period of the Conquest. In that sense, Muñoz approaches pre-Columbian images and symbols as a part of present-day speeches that are necessary to question and explore.

One of the main axes of his work is the relationship that objects have with different contexts and how their meanings can be reordered through material modifications, conceptual associations, or painting interventions. The possibilities represented by the adaptation of objects to different environments are key to Muñoz’s practice: the identity of each piece is based on multiplicity, on the encounter between its “original” meanings and those it assimilates, both in the process of artistic work and at the point of encounter with its viewers. This syncretism directly connects the conceptual with the material, a line on which his work unfolds. Muñoz's work can be found in the Alain Servais Collection (Belgium) and in various private collections in Mexico.

He currently lives and works in Mexico City.

Viewing Room VoW

Francisco Muñoz

Piedras aparentes Vol. 1, 2018

Charcoal print on cotton paper

Unframed:
45 x 45 cm
17 3/4 x 17 3/4 in
Framed:
60 x 60 x 3.5 cm
23 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Francisco Muñoz

Piedras aparentes Vol. 1, 2018

Charcoal print on cotton paper

Unframed:
45 x 45 cm
17 3/4 x 17 3/4 in
Framed:
60 x 60 x 3.5 cm
23 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Francisco Muñoz

Piedras aparentes Vol. 3, 2018

Charcoal print on cotton paper

Unframed:
49 x 45 cm
19 1/4 x 17 3/4 in
Framed:
64 x 60 x 3.5 cm
25 1/4 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Francisco Muñoz

Piedras aparentes Vol. 3, 2018

Charcoal print on cotton paper

Unframed:
49 x 45 cm
19 1/4 x 17 3/4 in
Framed:
64 x 60 x 3.5 cm
25 1/4 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Francisco Muñoz

Piedras aparentes Vol. 4, 2018

Charcoal print on cotton paper

Unframed:
65 x 45 cm
25 1/2 x 17 3/4 in
Framed:
75 x 60 x 3.5 cm
29 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Francisco Muñoz

Piedras aparentes Vol. 4, 2018

Charcoal print on cotton paper

Unframed:
65 x 45 cm
25 1/2 x 17 3/4 in
Framed:
75 x 60 x 3.5 cm
29 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Francisco Muñoz

Piedras aparentes Vol. 5, 2018

Charcoal print on cotton paper

Unframed:
60 x 45 cm
23 1/2 x 17 3/4 in
Framed:
75 x 60 x 3.5 cm
29 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

 

Inquire

Francisco Muñoz

Piedras aparentes Vol. 5, 2018

Charcoal print on cotton paper

Unframed:
60 x 45 cm
23 1/2 x 17 3/4 in
Framed:
75 x 60 x 3.5 cm
29 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

 

Inquire
Paris Photo 2024 - Viewing Room - GALERÍA RGR

DIEGO PÉREZ   (México City, Mexico, 1975)

Diego Pérez’s multidisciplinary practice continuously plays with the idea of the border, be they the limits that divide art from other sorts of objects, those that divide art from the wider public, or those that separate contemplation from experimentation. The artist articulates a sculptural imagination in which every material is an endless source of forms whose relationships do not end in the work, but extend to the environment and the viewer.

Beginning his career in the field of photography, Pérez has oriented his work towards the public life of objects, fomenting, not without a degree of humor and an affinity for fantasy, an inquiry about social relationships that give works meaning. It is in everyday life where a chair becomes a shelf, or where a box transforms into a plant pot; the art- life border is constituted and dissolved in the conjunction of public space, work and spectator.

For Pérez, it is important to let imagination and daydreaming flow, because that is where the contact between apparently separate fields is produced between artist and artisan, connoisseur, casual observer and so on.

He currently lives and works in Mexico City.

Viewing Room VoW

Diego Pérez

Laberinto de llantas, 2004 - 2006

Archival inkjet on baryta paper

Unframed:
80 x 100 cm
31 1/2 x 39 1/4 in
Framed:
84 x 104 x 4 cm
33 x 41 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Diego Pérez

Laberinto de llantas, 2004 - 2006

Archival inkjet on baryta paper

Unframed:
80 x 100 cm
31 1/2 x 39 1/4 in
Framed:
84 x 104 x 4 cm
33 x 41 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Diego Pérez

Área de pic-nic, 2004 - 2006

Archival inkjet on baryta paper

Unframed:
40 x 50 cm
15 3/4 x 19 3/4 in
Framed:
60 x 70 x 3.5 cm
23 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Diego Pérez

Área de pic-nic, 2004 - 2006

Archival inkjet on baryta paper

Unframed:
40 x 50 cm
15 3/4 x 19 3/4 in
Framed:
60 x 70 x 3.5 cm
23 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

Inquire

Diego Pérez

Sin título (Contrafachada ciega I), 2004 - 2007

Archival inkjet on baryta paper

Unframed:
40 x 50 cm
15 3/4 x 19 3/4 in
Framed:
60 x 70 x 3.5 cm
23 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

 

Inquire

Diego Pérez

Sin título (Contrafachada ciega I), 2004 - 2007

Archival inkjet on baryta paper

Unframed:
40 x 50 cm
15 3/4 x 19 3/4 in
Framed:
60 x 70 x 3.5 cm
23 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 1 1/2 in

 

Inquire
Paris Photo 2024 - Viewing Room - GALERÍA RGR

PATRICK HAMILTON   (Lovaina,Bélgica,1974)

Patrick Hamilton studied art at the Universidad de Chile. His work is characterized by a political interest that promotes the return of the social burden that abstractionism and conceptual art had at their time. With clear references to the 20th-century avant-gardes, the artist develops critiques in which the economy of visual language allows him to be incisive and forceful with his ideas.

The works belonging to his series Abrasive Paintings, for instance, are made with black, red, yellow or white-colored sandpaper, with which the artist makes geometric patterns, almost always rectangular, alluding to bricks. A design that first appears innocuous hides an aggressive materiality, in a way that contrasts the “coldness” and simplicity of rational design with a strong emotional base. More widely, Hamilton seeks to make connections between these sorts of clashes and the contexts of the countries to which he holds personal links, be that Spain or Chile, referring to their social problems and their historical roots.

Thus, through distinct media, from painting to urban interventions, Hamilton centers his reflections on the analysis of social and political tensions.

He currently lives and works between Madrid, Spain, and Santiago, Chile.

Viewing Room VoW

Patrick Hamilton

Atacama #26, 2024

Intervened photograph with copper plate, wooden frame

84 x 104 cm
33 x 41 in

Inquire

Patrick Hamilton

Atacama #26, 2024

Intervened photograph with copper plate, wooden frame

84 x 104 cm
33 x 41 in

Inquire

Patrick Hamilton

Atacama #19, 2023

Intervened photograph with copper plate, wooden frame

84 x 104 cm
33 x 41 in

Inquire

Patrick Hamilton

Atacama #19, 2023

Intervened photograph with copper plate, wooden frame

84 x 104 cm
33 x 41 in

Inquire
Paris Photo 2024 - Viewing Room - GALERÍA RGR

KARINA AGUILERA SKVIRSKY   (RhodeIsland,USA,1967)

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky is a multidisciplinary Ecuadorian and Jewish-American artist based in New York. Through video, performance, and photography, her practice navigates broader questions of place, identity, and nationhood. Her main subjects of interest are abstraction, politics, humor, feminism, and history. With her work, she has explored social topics such as the African diaspora in both the North and the South of the hemisphere, the complexities of indigeneity, and the legacies of colonialism. Aguilera Skvirsky’s work has been exhibited internationally in group and solo shows in renowned galleries and museums, highlighting, among them: Museo de la Ciudad, Cuenca, Ecuador (2021), Photoville, The Clemente, NY, USA (2021), Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico (2019), Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico (2018), The Deutsche Bank, NY, USA (2018), Ponce + Robles Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2017), The Institute of Contemporary Art, PA, USA (2016), Instituto Cervantes, Rome, Italy (2013), The Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, USA (2013), The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, CT, USA (2007), El Museo del Barrio, NY, USA (2006), and Sara Meltzer Gallery, NY, USA (2006).

Throughout her career, she has been recognized with various grants from such as Anonymous Was A Woman (2019), The National Association of Latino Arts Culture (2018), Jerome Foundation Fellowship (2015), Fulbright Scholar Program (2015), Puffin Foundation, Teaneck, NJ, USA (2006), among others.

She currently lives and works between New York and Ecuador.

Viewing Room VoW

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Monumento del pasado al futuro #3, 2023

Hand cut collage, alpaca, and folded archival inkjet prints, painted

Unframed:
157 x 102 cm
61 3/4 x 40 1/4 in
Framed:
160 x 104 x 5 cm
63 x 41 x 2 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Monumento del pasado al futuro #3, 2023

Hand cut collage, alpaca, and folded archival inkjet prints, painted

Unframed:
157 x 102 cm
61 3/4 x 40 1/4 in
Framed:
160 x 104 x 5 cm
63 x 41 x 2 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Monumento del pasado al futuro #1, 2023

Hand cut collage, alpaca, and folded archival inkjet prints, painted

Unframed:
157 x 102 cm
61 3/4 x 40 1/4 in
Framed:
160 x 104 x 5 cm
63 x 41 x 2 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Monumento del pasado al futuro #1, 2023

Hand cut collage, alpaca, and folded archival inkjet prints, painted

Unframed:
157 x 102 cm
61 3/4 x 40 1/4 in
Framed:
160 x 104 x 5 cm
63 x 41 x 2 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Ingapirca: Piedra #5, 2019

Hand cut collaged and folded archival inkjet prints

Unframed:
43 x 56 cm
17 x 22 in
Framed:
45 x 58.4 cm
17 3/4 x 23 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Ingapirca: Piedra #5, 2019

Hand cut collaged and folded archival inkjet prints

Unframed:
43 x 56 cm
17 x 22 in
Framed:
45 x 58.4 cm
17 3/4 x 23 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Ingapirca: Piedra #6, 2019

Hand cut collaged and folded archival inkjet prints

Unframed:
43 x 56 cm
17 x 22 in
Framed:
45 x 58.4 cm
17.9 x 23 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Ingapirca: Piedra #6, 2019

Hand cut collaged and folded archival inkjet prints

Unframed:
43 x 56 cm
17 x 22 in
Framed:
45 x 58.4 cm
17.9 x 23 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Ingapirca: Piedra #8, 2019

Hand cut collaged and folded archival inkjet prints

Unframed:
43 x 56 cm
17 x 22 in
Framed:
45 x 58.4 cm
17.9 x 23 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Ingapirca: Piedra #8, 2019

Hand cut collaged and folded archival inkjet prints

Unframed:
43 x 56 cm
17 x 22 in
Framed:
45 x 58.4 cm
17.9 x 23 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Ingapirca: Piedra #7, 2019

Hand cut collaged and folded archival inkjet prints

Unframed:
43 x 56 cm
17 x 22 in
Framed:
45 x 58.4 cm
17.9 x 23 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Ingapirca: Piedra #7, 2019

Hand cut collaged and folded archival inkjet prints

Unframed:
43 x 56 cm
17 x 22 in
Framed:
45 x 58.4 cm
17.9 x 23 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Ingapirca: Piedra #9, 2019

Hand cut collaged and folded archival inkjet prints

Unframed:
43 x 56 cm
17 x 22 in
Framed:
45 x 58.4 cm
17.9 x 23 in

Inquire

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Ingapirca: Piedra #9, 2019

Hand cut collaged and folded archival inkjet prints

Unframed:
43 x 56 cm
17 x 22 in
Framed:
45 x 58.4 cm
17.9 x 23 in

Inquire