Biography:
Recently, Alberto Contreras definitely found a decisive moment. This exhibition is meant remembering the friend and the colleague who went away; the accomplice in adventures like the creation, the education, the technique and the powerful voice of his images.
Alberto was born in the city of Veracruz in 1975. He studied photography in the Faculty of Arts of the Universidad Veracruzana and in the International Center of Photography, New York; he was director of the Fototeca de Veracruz since 2005. His activities, both creative and educational, drove him to teach classes in Universidad Veracruzana, Universidad Cristóbal Colón and Universidad Autónoma de Veracruz and to be featured in collective exhibits in Colombia, the United States, Spain, Cuba and Mexico.
Among his individual projects we can mention the essays "Xalapa de la Inmaculada", "Simulacro" (Simulation) and "La Bruja" (The Witch). He obtained honorable mentions in the Fourth Photojournalism Biennial of Mexico, Latin American Photo Show, organized by Casa de las Américas, in Cuba, and the First Contest "The Values of the Democracy", organized by the Electoral Institute of Mexico, IFE. He was fellow of the FONCA program for young artists and the Program for Foreign Studies.
Statement:
This exhibition by Contreras is one of those trips that, if not happy at least is pleasurable and saturated with a magical energy. It is the plain and simple representation of the feeling of an artist for whom it is pressing to capture what is in front of his camera, before it disappears. The night is austere; nevertheless, the artist extracts its mysteries and forces it to give back those beings who take cover in its nocturnal patios. Here lies the secret of Contreras, who anxiously pursued that evanescent take, because past and present urged him to. The future, however, delivers fascinating images to his viewers, since tomorrow is the territory of the unexpected. I have already taken a peek myself in the cloudy vortex of this inventory: a convulsed light has expelled me from its territories.
Ignacio Garcia (fragment) |
