The evolution of portraits in photography and painting follows similar paths during the second half of the 20th century. Ferreira Gullar said that painting had died after concretism introduced the “white on white” in painting. But soon Neo Concretism amplified radically the horizons of Art, through the use of installations and interventions.
I see the same line of reasoning, in relation to portraits, in the art of Isabelle Prado. I consider him as part of a new generation of photographers with visual complexity, multifaceted, and anti-narrative aesthetics. These are photos that reflect many traditions of photography in the same image and go beyond the studies of color, texture, and volume. He chose bodies as a medium to express abstract poetics.
If the portrait was created for the purpose of identification, in his art the aim is fragmentation. Like a kind of puzzle that has its pieces messed up after the image was formed, Isabelle Prado seems to dismantle his photography through his creative process.
The clash between photographic language and reality invigorates the process of creation, reception, and expands our relationship with art. This dialogue is stimulating and along with other innovative artistic movements, it opens new horizons in visual expression.
