Mateus Porto
Porto's photos blend fear, fetish, and grace in all his photos. They way he lights his subjects (with colored gels or spotlights) creates an unsettling confrontation. The subjects are clearly presented which allows the viewer to consider every part of them. The subjects in his portrait work also make direct eye contact with the camera. The utilization of this technique further emphasizes the strangeness of his photos. Porto's photos are surrealistic because of the ambiguity of the situation. He creates this by doing a tight composition which forces the viewer to only consider the foreground.
The subject manner of his photos ranges from taboo to identity to isolation. Porto is capturing haunting, androgynous people in a way that the viewer would never forget. Besides the elaborate makeup and costume, the formality of the people he photographs communicates the art of their appearance and how they care about themselves. They are all very distinctive and unique and Porto captures this without being sterile or documentary. While its hard to nail down one specific theme across his work since he has so much, it is definitely apparent that Porto is trying to capture a exaggerated reality and beauty of these people popularly seen as outcasts.
I personally found Porto's photos remarkable. He is one of those photographers that elevates the medium a step further. The photos don't belong in the normal conventions of portrait photography. They standalone as characters and each one tells a very personal story. The way he is able to create such tight compositions that are still dynamic is beyond me. I am also captivated by the way he can make his subjects look beautiful yet terrifying. This also may be what these individuals experience. Regardless, Porto's portraiture is technically simple but again it still somehow moves beyond it and elevates it.
No comments:
Post a Comment