Golden Pleasures

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"Golden Pleasures"

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

Gloria, my mother in law, brought me today these fresh smoked chubs from the Great Lakes, something really hard to find (fresh) on these days. Despite that I love it, it also reminded me of Uruguay and the fish wrapped on news paper. Priceless memory.

Oh yes! It is winter once again.

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© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

When I thought we were done with it!!!!

Q & A

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"Indianapolis" (Indiana 2.30 AM) / © Flavio Martín Morante_2009

"Indiana 2.30AM"

"It is cold. March Midwest cold.

I want to call you.

The vending machine sucks.

Too late to say good night,

too early to say good morning.

The wooden chair makes horror movie noises when I move.

My feet are tired, my shoes are dead.

Someone jumps in a cab in the emptiness of a night full of darkness.

Still have a wait.

I wanted to call you".

Someone asked me in reference to a prior post (the Internal Exteriors video) what was "the thing about Indiana 2.30AM"?. 

"Indiana 2.30AM" is one of the many short texts I wrote on my trips between Birmingham (AL) and Milwaukee (WI) while living in the South. I was not pretending to write about the trips, but yes I was recording my trips on the Greyhound bus on pictures -and wanted to write about some of the images- since that was actually the excuse to take the bus, (otherwise I could have drive 13 hours straight shot and saved me some time and couple of headaches). To tell you the truth, it was the last "self-project" I made completely (and purposely) on black and white film. There are around only 200 or some pictures about those roundtrips which maybe someday I will seat down to really do something with them. (Sometimes you got to let some things to cool down). Anyway, while on those almost 22 hours crossing the "States" (Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin) I was mostly awake, absorbing everything I saw, heard, and even smell (not so much fun on that one) in order to create my own big picture of a "self imposed adventure". On every station I stopped, mostly at high hours of the night, there alone, watching, pointing my camera, I also wrote "short lines" of my impressions or thoughts at the moment. While looking at those phones (the ones on the picture), there they were, silent, waiting for someone to make a call, but what will be the excuse for someone to pick up a phone at that time of the night? And so, to answer that question I wrote "Indiana (2.30AM)".

F. Martin Morante.

To Portrait or Not to Portrait...

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"Untitled"_(Madre e Hija).

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragüa © Flavio Martín Morante_2006

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"Untitled"_ (El Padre y sus Aguiluchos)

Masaya, Nicaragüa © Flavio Martín Morante_2006

There were a lot of interesting conversations last Friday around the subject of portraiture photography. One thing just kept coming to my head over and over that night and it was the quote from Richard Avedon _
"My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph"_Richard Avedon.
and In my case I found out about that 6 years ago, when I did the 2 portraits above and realized that I was not just photographing them but I was creating a record of how I saw and felt some aspects of a country like Nicaragüa. It was my opinion made into a captured image. After that trip, I stopped doing direct pictures of people  like I was doing until then (unless it was for work), and I turned the lens directly at me or to what it makes me, and that maybe its the the best answer to the (repeated) question I faced on Friday_ so... where is the people?.

Thank YOU!

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Jane Suddendorf and me during the opening of "Portraits" at Gallery 224 last Friday.

I wanted to thank EVERYBODY that made the "Portraits" show opening a really good and well attended event. It was good to see the nice amount of people that flowed through the gallery during the 2 (and some) hours it was open.

Thank you again and do not forget, the show will be up until March 16th. Visit with me this Saturday when I will be there from 9AM to 1PM for a good coffee/talk time.

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Portraying Portraits

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"Dawn"

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

"A portrait!, what could be more simple and more complex, 

more obvious and more profound?"_Charles Baudelaire, 1859.

Tonight from 5PM to 7PM is the opening reception for the "Portraits" Show at Gallery 224. Will be great to see you there!!!

And Tuesday from 4PM to 8PM during the "Ladies Night Out Event" on Port Washington, I will be doing portraits like these one (of my beautiful wife) to everybody that shows up at the gallery.

Try to do not miss any of both events. It will be fun!

F. Martín Morante.

Visit www.gallery224.com for more info.

Do It Yourself!

Internal Exteriors Promo Video from Martin Morante on Vimeo.

This video was made by myself today as a promo about my participation with "Internal Exteriors" on the "Portraits" show at Gallery 224 in Port Washington.

With this video I would like to invite all of you to the opening reception of the show, which will take place on February 17th (Friday) from 5 PM to 7PM. A great and interesting show to which it will be great if you can make it!!!!!!!

For more info about the show, please visit www.gallery224.com

For the making of this video I used a Nikon Coolpix P7000. The editing was made simply using Aperture and IMovie.

The music you hear is a short "melody" I made using Garage Band instruments, mixing loops and adding my voice (1 track in english and 1 track in spanish mixed) while reading a short story I wrote couple of years ago and which gives the name to the melody_ 

"Indiana (2.30AM)"

and mixed to another track in english made while reading the definition of the word "portrait".

It is a short video, only 1 minute, but I still wanted to share it since this is what I love, this is who I am, and this is what I do.

Enjoy!!!. (do not forget to put the volume really up)

F. Martín Morante.

Putting Things in Perspective!

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"Untitled_("found" in a parking lot) / © Flavio Martín Morante_2012

:)

Ha!

Countdown Planning.

This week I will be hanging a total of 13 pieces/diptychs belonging to the "Internal Exteriors" series for the "Portraits" show at Gallery 224. It will be the first time I will be sharing this work on a gallery space, reason why I am looking at every single detail carefully and doing the best I can in terms of planning the use of space. It seems simple to hang an exhibit, but it is not.

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"Untitled_(from Internal Exteriors)"

© Flavio Martín Morante_2011

When given the option by Jane, I picked the back wall of the gallery for 2 reasons; on one hand it is by the waterfront and since my love for water... (no need to explain more there) and on the other hand, since the gallery its going to be open mostly during the morning, it was great to take advantage of the natural morning light that comes through the big window facing lake Michigan.

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Computer generated diagram of the pieces for better idea of space use. Still managing (playing around) on how I really want to hang the series.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

Then the distribution of the pieces respond to several factors. The pictures have been printed on a not so small/not so big size (8in x 12in each, 24_1/4 in x 8 when assembled as a diptych), since I want people to look at them close, but at the same time I will spread them giving them their own space. Each diptych should speak for itself, but at the same time, all together should give people the idea of a big unified piece. The pictures are all mounted on foam board, to reduce cost, but also to leave them "open" since the simple act of putting them on frames it seemed to me that will capsule them individually in this case, something I wanted to avoid.

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We will see how it goes. Thursday its coming fast!

Types of Memories

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"Malvín I"

Acrylic painting on canvas, 11in x 14 in © Flavio Martín Morante_2012

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"Malvín II"

Acrylic painting on canvas, 11in x 14 in © Flavio Martín Morante_2012