591 Exhibition - Pedro Meyer
Selecting from the works of Pedro Meyer is not easy. He is a true maestro, I rank him along with photographers like Lewis Hine, Paul Strand, Walker Evans, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank. In some of his snapshotlike pictures I see a fellowship with Elliott Erwitt - the strength and impact of each individual image makes me think of Christer Strömholm.
Pedro Meyer is not just an excellent and celebrated photographer - during the last decades he has been in the forefront in bringing photography to the people using modern technology like the Internet. I think Pedro was one of the first photographers to make digital prints back in the mid 1990s. He was also a pioneer in creating CDroms with slides and sound.
In an editorial for ZoneZero, the immensely popular site founded by Pedro, he writes (1999):
"why all this nostalgia about touching, when to begin with, everything we are taught to do with pictures is about "not touching". Do not touch the negative, the slides, the prints. All for good measure of course, but in fact it is all about not touching. So now that we have the means to actually work with images without having to worry about our direct physical contact, the first thing that so many bring up is this longing for a sensorial contact which never existed in the first place."
How true.
There is much to be said about this great man living in Mexico and born in Madrid, 1935. You should have a thorough look at his Heresies exhibit — a retrospective covering four decades of his work.It was opening simultaneously in 60 museums worldwide in October 2008. There is a book with 300 photographs from Heresies and exhibitions are still opening for example in several places in Chile.
My choice of pictures for this 591 Exhibition is called "The '80s, United States". All photos are from a gallery found on Pedro Meyers website called "United States" containing almost 200 photographs. I urge you to read the excellent introduction by curator Fernando Castro.
I have watched these pictures many times and it is hard to point out any favourites, since I regard almost each of them as a masterpieces. But I often return to the picture called "emotional crisis"- genial.
Many thanks Pedro for sharing this excellent work with 591. Abrazos. - Mr Urbano (aka Ulf)
Pedro Meyers website
Zonezero
Comments
Chapeau.
Saúl Serrano