THE EXHIBITION

This exhibition is the definitive expression of an artistic and very personal challenge.

It is a series of snapshots accompanied by texts that portray everyday scenes, a priori without transcendence, but which on many occasions contain an immense visual richness. Bringing us closer to stories of ordinary people that the photographer shows us subtly, putting them for a moment in the center of the universe.

This exhibition is the wonderful result of a unique, sincere, humble, courageous, generous and extraordinary proposal.

It’s unique because the photographer doesn’t rely on extravagant characters, doesn’t prepare the scenes and decontextualizes the locations, because that’s what’s important, it’s the people who pass by, the ordinary people who generally go unnoticed by everyone, but who become the main motive for Luis Ángel Vidal in this extraordinary and singular series.

It’s sincere because most of the photographs are urban portraits taken with different devices always capturing the essence of the scene.

It’s humble because neither the author or the motive show any pretension beyond portraying the world around him, focusing on its worth. This allows him to be brave enough to show what he does without complexes or vanity.

It’s generous because it only tries to share point of view with us and to give relevance to everyday things, to ordinary people, removing them from the ostracism of normality, portraying them with the beauty of that normality in which they hide.

And finally, it surely is extraordinary, because without perhaps pretending it, it is even capable of bringing us closer to the ever present debate of privacy. Do we transgress the limits of privacy by shooting portraits pro bono in public spaces of unknown people, without specifying the place or without denigrating or extolling the person portrayed?

There is no doubt that this exhibition is a great challenge for the author, for it means showing scenes in which you have to be present in order to portray them, but also disappear so as not to distort what happens there.  The inestimable challenge of pulling out all the stops, showing your work in this exhibition, escaping the ephemeral and anonymity and all of it without seeking applause. All in all, this project can only be at the level of photographer hearts, of people like Luis Ángel Vidal, for whom the art of photography recycles their blood, balances and motivates them and becomes their vital fuel.

“Gente corriente” is not a photography exhibition, it’s a declaration of intentions, it’s shouting in silence, it’s running barefoot, it’s undressing in the rain, it’s respect, it’s dark chocolate, it’s truth and love.

Óscar Calzado