ORDER
(2014-2020)
Order covers a body of work carried out between 2014 and 2020 in different megacities around the world. This project pursues a subjective hypothesis about the reflection of advertising images in human appearances and behaviour in urban life.
Following the classic methodology of street photography (straight photography of a scene without any manipulation), Óscar Monzón goes further by extracting moments and spaces which —due to their scenography- related and gestural precision— enter into direct dialogue with the images of the adverts that are ubiquitous in these locations. These adverts appear in the sequence as animated elements, as real and alive as the scenes that are documented in the project.
＊＊＊
"If we examine the context of the photographic works, we find no will to act as a mirror, but rather as an X- ray and a scalpel. Starting with entirely real urban scenes, Monzón draws out tension and unease, shaping a new version of street photography that goes to the opposite extreme of the untamed documentarism of Garry Winogrand, but that also transcends the theatricalized forms of Philip-Lorca di Corcia or Jeff Wall. Vertigo and nightmares imbue this introspective journey into the “dark side” of the shining world of appearances. A scene formed by dense atmospheres and dramatic lights frames these snapshots of a “brave new world” where happiness is dehumanized and, as Monzón shows us, is one with the apocalypse.
—Joan Fontcuberta. Text excerpt for the catalogue of the MAST Photography Grant on Industry and Work (2015).
"If we examine the context of the photographic works, we find no will to act as a mirror, but rather as an X- ray and a scalpel. Starting with entirely real urban scenes, Monzón draws out tension and unease, shaping a new version of street photography that goes to the opposite extreme of the untamed documentarism of Garry Winogrand, but that also transcends the theatricalized forms of Philip-Lorca di Corcia or Jeff Wall. Vertigo and nightmares imbue this introspective journey into the “dark side” of the shining world of appearances. A scene formed by dense atmospheres and dramatic lights frames these snapshots of a “brave new world” where happiness is dehumanized and, as Monzón shows us, is one with the apocalypse.
—Joan Fontcuberta. Text excerpt for the catalogue of the MAST Photography Grant on Industry and Work, 2015.
ORDER
(2014-2020)
Order covers a body of work carried out between 2014 and 2019 in different megacities around the world. This project pursues a subjective hypothesis about the reflection of advertising images in human appearances and behaviour in urban life.
Following the classic methodology of street photography (straight photography of a scene without any manipulation), Óscar Monzón goes further by extracting moments and spaces which — due to their scenography - related and gestural precision — enter into direct dialogue with the images of the adverts that are ubiquitous in these locations. These adverts appear in the sequence as animated elements, as real and alive as the scenes that are documented in the project.
＊＊＊
ORDER
(2014-2020)
Order covers a body of work carried
out between 2014 and 2019 in different megacities around the world. This project pursues a subjective hypothesis about the reflection of advertising images in human appearances and behaviour in urban life.
Following the classic methodology
of street photography (straight photography of a scene without any manipulation), Óscar Monzón goes further by extracting moments and spaces which —due to their scenography-related and gestural precision —enter into direct dialogue with the images of the adverts that are ubiquitous in these locations. These adverts appear in the sequence as animated elements, as real and alive as the scenes that are documented in the project.
＊＊＊
"If we examine the context of the photographic works, we find no will to act as a mirror, but rather as an
X- ray and a scalpel. Starting with entirely real urban scenes, Monzón draws out tension and unease, shaping a new version of street photography that goes to the opposite extreme of the untamed documentarism of Garry Winogrand, but that also transcends the theatricalized forms of Philip-Lorca di Corcia or Jeff Wall. Vertigo and nightmares imbue this introspective journey into the “dark side” of the shining world of appearances.
A scene formed by dense atmospheres and dramatic lights frames these snapshots of a “brave new world” where happiness is dehumanized and, as Monzón shows us, is one with the apocalypse.
—Joan Fontcuberta.
Text excerpt for the catalogue of the MAST Photography Grant on Industry and Work, 2015.