SPANISH ART PHOTOGRAPHY – JAVIER AND VALENTIN VALLHONRAT
PRESS RELEASE
It is challenging to provide an overview of Spanish photographic art, as it lacks the strong traditions, historical roots, and prominent figures that have defined its trajectory. In the long sequence of transformations that comprise the history of visual arts, numerous Spanish artists have left their mark. However, among the likes of Velázquez, Goya, Picasso, Miró, and Chillida, there are no photographers of comparable stature who have maintained the distinctive characteristics of their medium.
Today, however, photographic art in Spain is experiencing a promising phase. A few significant artists have emerged, and more importantly, the number of individuals discovering photography as their means of expression continues to grow. Javier and Valentin Vallhonrat are representatives of a new generation. While they lack connections or characteristics that would classify them within a specific Spanish school, they have developed their own unique modes of expression, contributing another piece to the puzzle of European photographic art.
Javier Vallhonrat began—and continues—his career as a photographer in the world of fashion. However, alongside his commercial work, he has been gradually and consistently pursuing an intriguing and coherent personal exploration. This ongoing work has taken shape in three series, to which this exhibition serves as a direct continuation. His images radiate a sense of mystery and poetry, rooted deeply in his own inner life experiences. These experiences are universal and relatable, as they originate from the most primal areas of the human brain, where all our fears are shared.
To access this hidden realm, Javier Vallhonrat has chosen as his theme the animal and plant worlds—a unified domain defined by the opposing tension of life and death, which manifests in both spheres. Only civilization draws boundaries between the animal and plant kingdoms, and only cultural prejudices distinguish humans from animals. Vallhonrat’s photographs transport us to a mythical frontier where unity is the sole criterion. From this domain emerge dreams and enigmas, which Vallhonrat translates into images imbued with a powerful ritualistic charge. These images draw from the same sources as religion, creating a secular yet mystical visual universe.
Valentin Vallhonrat, on the other hand, turned to photography after working in other fields, such as journalism and screenwriting. What drew him to photography was its immediacy and the physical ease of execution. Few other forms of expression allow the creation of multiple works in a single day, which can then be seen in their completed form just hours later. Valentin has chosen the realm of creative photography, where limitations are determined solely by the individual, and has focused his production on one timeless theme: portraiture.
Valentin Vallhonrat’s portraits are innovative and unsettling. He has succeeded in liberating his photography from conventional approaches, which, on one hand, are marked by the flattering tendencies of commissioned work and, on the other, by the pursuit of objectivity in documentary photography. By transcending these constraints, faces become still-life compositions—or rather, landscapes—because the beauty of Valentin’s images is not static but vital and dynamic.
(Excerpt from an article by J. Alberto Mariñas, published in the Pori Art Museum’s catalog “Javier Vallhonrat Valentin Vallhonrat”.)
Publication:
ISBN 951-9355-14-6 Javier Vallhonrat Valentin Vallhonrat
Pori Art Museum 14.6.-13.7.1986
Editing and lay-out: Pori Art Museum
12 black-and-white photographs
Satakunnan Kirjateollisuus Oy, Pori 1986
Pori Art Museum Publications 9
Translated with ChatGPT