Javier Vallhonrat studied Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid and also graduated in Psychology from Comillas University over twenty years later.
This internationally renowned fashion photographer started out by combining his advertising work with producing art projects. However, from the 1990s onwards, those projects would become his main focus, while he also embarked on a teaching career as a lecturer in Photography at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Cuenca. His artistic discourse is structured around an analysis of the narrative dimension of photography, of the pure image, of its objectual dimension and of the relation between constructed reality and photography.
After the Tributes (1983), Animal/Vegetable (1986) and The Possessed Space (1990) projects, in which his discourse was autobiographical in regard to sexuality and body identity, his output in the 1990s shifted away from himself and became more analytical. Between 1991 and 1996 he worked on Autograms (1991), Precarious Items (1993-1994) and Boxes (1995), where the only narrative is the photographic process converted into a theme and tool, in an attempt to ‘photograph the photography’. As part of that need to understand his work tools, a process of synthesis and order is produced which results in ‘empty’ boxes, objectified photographs with no images or, as Vallhonrat explained, ‘transparent images, related to an empty space converted into a physical object’. His output at that time made him a leading figure in Spanish contemporary art, proof of which is the National Photography Award that he received in 1995.
Vallhonrat has since worked on numerous projects where he makes increasing use of video and installation. His work shifts between concepts polarised by the artist: object/image, object/action, constructed image/real image, familiar/strange, order/chaos, copy/model, psychological space/physical space, construction/nature, uncertainty/predictability, etc. This seesawing between concepts, possibly thanks to the blurring of their concepts, generates a certain feeling of irresolution and fragility that the artist relates to the elusive aspect of the definition of photography.
His work has earned him awards including The Art Directors Club 76th Annual Awards (New York, 1997), PHotoEspaña Prize (Madrid, 2007), City of Madrid Photography Award (2009) and the Photography Award of the Community of Madrid (2009). His work has been exhibited at Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid, 1985); the Caja de Burgos Exhibition Centre (1993); the Hamiltons Gallery (London, 1992, 1995 and 1997); the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, 1996); and the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, 2006).
Javier Vallhonrat studied Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid and also graduated in Psychology from Comillas University over twenty years later.
This internationally renowned fashion photographer started out by combining his advertising work with producing art projects. However, from the 1990s onwards, those projects would become his main focus, while he also embarked on a teaching career as a lecturer in Photography at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Cuenca. His artistic discourse is structured around an analysis of the narrative dimension of photography, of the pure image, of its objectual dimension and of the relation between constructed reality and photography.
After the Tributes (1983), Animal/Vegetable (1986) and The Possessed Space (1990) projects, in which his discourse was autobiographical in regard to sexuality and body identity, his output in the 1990s shifted away from himself and became more analytical. Between 1991 and 1996 he worked on Autograms (1991), Precarious Items (1993-1994) and Boxes (1995), where the only narrative is the photographic process converted into a theme and tool, in an attempt to ‘photograph the photography’. As part of that need to understand his work tools, a process of synthesis and order is produced which results in ‘empty’ boxes, objectified photographs with no images or, as Vallhonrat explained, ‘transparent images, related to an empty space converted into a physical object’. His output at that time made him a leading figure in Spanish contemporary art, proof of which is the National Photography Award that he received in 1995.
Vallhonrat has since worked on numerous projects where he makes increasing use of video and installation. His work shifts between concepts polarised by the artist: object/image, object/action, constructed image/real image, familiar/strange, order/chaos, copy/model, psychological space/physical space, construction/nature, uncertainty/predictability, etc. This seesawing between concepts, possibly thanks to the blurring of their concepts, generates a certain feeling of irresolution and fragility that the artist relates to the elusive aspect of the definition of photography.
His work has earned him awards including The Art Directors Club 76th Annual Awards (New York, 1997), PHotoEspaña Prize (Madrid, 2007), City of Madrid Photography Award (2009) and the Photography Award of the Community of Madrid (2009). His work has been exhibited at Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid, 1985); the Caja de Burgos Exhibition Centre (1993); the Hamiltons Gallery (London, 1992, 1995 and 1997); the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, 1996); and the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, 2006).