This volume marks the publishing debut of the Spanish-Argentinian photographer based in Milan, Patricio Reig, and introduces one of the artist’s preferred subjects: the female portrait. In these photographs he captures the subtle balance of the female image: the front is that which is obvious, while the reverse is its opposite. By bringing together a face and the nape of a neck, a front and a back, light and shadow, he conjures the apparition of a portrait.
Patricio Reig prints and sets his images on special oriental paper, folded over and over, and finally dipped in a bath of coffee and sodium thiosulfate. He has found the result intriguing ever since his very first experiments: fortuitous coffee stains become scars that denote each photograph, and consequently every story they tell.
As he himself says: “A portrait is not the recording of a single identity, but rather the layering of many elements. For this reason, the image may be fragmented, pieced back together, or even folded over, and yet it never loses its essence.”
Patricio Reig (San Juan, Argentina, 1959). After earning a PhD in Architecture in Barcelona, he began studying photography independently. His career has unfolded between Barcelona, Buenos Aires, and Milan, where he now lives and works. He has always been interested in experimenting with alternative photographic processes. His works are included in several public and private collections in America, Europe, and Asia.
