Fernando Prats: Photographic Internet Master
This is the inaugural blog in my new Lucid Thoughts section on Lucid Communication. This section will be where I write about artists that inspire me, things that cooler than cool, and other nuggets of Internet archaeology. I hope that people out there will enjoy, visit, and follow the goings on in Cooler Than Cool Photography. I look forward to creating more Lucid Communication with artists from around this beautiful globe.
I first met the Spain based artist Fernando Prats back in the wild west days of Myspace. I was new to the Myspace world back in 2006 and I was quickly becoming frustrated with not being able to link up with any other visual artists. There were an abundance of musicians of all stripes and sounds, but I kept on thinking to myself, “where are the artists, photographers, and filmakers?” It was around this time that I came across the Myspace page for Y Sin Embargo Magazine. I was browsing around the comments and the Magazines page thinking that this is pretty cool, and this is what the Myspace experience should be about for myself and other artists.
I wrote Y Sin Embargo an email on Myspace saying how much I liked the site and that I would love to collaborate on an upcoming issue. Low and behold I received an email back from Fernando. Not only did he reply but he also said how much he liked my work and that I should submit some work to the magazine. This was the beginning of our cross the globe friendship and artistic collaborations with my work being included in Y Sin Embargo #11 issue, Hermosa. Which was quickly followed up by my work being paired with a writer for inclusion in the Y Sin Embargo #12 issue, Habitat Habitos.
I was so impressed not only Fernando’s work as a photographer but his artistic layout design to create spaces where he and his fellow artists can showcase their work. Fernando has a brilliant eye for layout design which he explores on Estudi Prats, and through the way in which his simple and elegant designs do not detract from the work that they are presenting but that they add another beautiful layer to the artistic expression.
Another space that Fernando has created for artists to interact with each other is the Flickr group Rhizome Candidum, Rhizome Premium, and Rhizome Summum. I usually have stayed away from groups that demand the users post awards to other peoples work, but this Flickr group is different. The level of work submitted to the three tiered group is some of the best work that I have found on the net. Prats encourages the members of the group to create comments that are constructive and help all improve the overall quality of the group. This is the essence of the Rhizome groups. For the artists to work together and create stronger expressive work. And much inline with my own personal philosophy of Lucid Communication, the artists interact with each other and we all strive to encourage each other to develop ourselves as artists. I fully enjoy interacting with my fellow astists, including Fernando Prats on Flickr.
Fernando Prats has developed an international network of artists and puts the Internet to good use. In fact, his presence on the Internet is the most profound that I have yet to find. He manages to explore all the niches of the Internet where artists gather to exchange views, represent themselves, and further their artistic goals. As the Internet is ever expanding Fernando will be right there using the latest tools to further his lucid communication with the artistic community.
Fernando Prats’ photographic work often deals with the theme of how humans interact, and build structures in the places that we inhabit. To call his work simply architectural photography would be to miss the message in the photographs. The space, and often seemingly empty space, allows the viewer to gaze into the city in a way that they have never seen before. How the buildings jagged edges cut out sections of the sky as he aims his lens towards the heavens. The dark shapes shift and comment on how humans try to reach the heavens, but we are still mentally pulled down by the earth’s gravity. A collection on his studies of the interaction of architecture in Buenos Ares, called “a taste of immadencity.” Prats says, that there is “a discourse of the shapes as a dialog of power,” about his collection of photographs that were all made in one day of shooting in the Puerto Madero area of Buenos Ares, and, “limited to obeying the histogram’s wishes,” Prats further explains.
I asked Fernando some questions about his online presence and what that means to him as an artist.
November 21st, 2011 at 9:24 am
Thanks, Jacob. (W)ood wo(r)k!
November 21st, 2011 at 10:13 am
you are very welcome fernando!!
it was a pleasure to write about you and all
the good woks that you do!
jacob
November 22nd, 2011 at 7:45 am
[…] Below is just a small sampling of Fernando Prats photographic works. Many of the images are from his soon to be released book titled Immadencity: Buenos Aires contemporary architecture according to fernandoprats. to be released in December this year. Fernando describes the images in the book as follows: winks of an era in which the city is built on and by itself, between tension and eclecticism, immanence and density. He is awaiting the masterization of some original music created by RV to accompany the images. . These images contained in this blog posting are copyrighted by Fernando Prats 2011. [Ver artículo original] […]
November 23rd, 2011 at 8:26 am
beautifully curated photo selection, I enjoyed reading the interview.
Big respect for Fernando Prats!
November 27th, 2011 at 5:26 am
thanks brancolina.
fernando is the man when it comes to photography
and merging it with the web culture.
December 2nd, 2011 at 2:09 am
odiosamente impecable/mente envidiable/mente admirable/mente demencial/mente perfectas.