Ricardo Asch
Web design: uffa
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Vision

FOTO GRAFÍA
From its very beginning, photography has been known as a technique based on a device that enables us to faithfully reproduce an existing image: a window to an objective world. From this point of view, the photographer becomes a simple means, a harmless vehicle who triggers a mechanism capable of grasping an irrefutable reality.
However, by using space, arranging objects in the lens, capturing light, and the many other resources available, the photographer stamps his/her own particular vision on every shot. Upon observing the things everybody looks at, the photographer sees something different.
For several years, I have been experiencing something different with my camera. I call this experience FOTO GRAFIA. The GRAFIA. The faithful etymological translation of this discipline is: to draw with light. (From the Greek, Phos: φως - light and Graphis: γραφίς-writings). This technique basically consists of focusing one or several lights and drawing with the movement of the camera to create the desired mental images. The images obtained are not in the real space used by the conventional photographer, but in one’s mind and in one’s soul. The object I want to photograph of is not outside but inside of me. The objects are created by a force stemming from myself; they are thought only with the purpose of being created.
I understand that in that way my photographs become unique and unmatched. Two shots will turn into two different images. This way, I feel that I am able to establish a distinctive and unique viewpoint and – perhaps - to approach that which Walter Benjamin called aura.
Saint Agustine thought that we cannot perceive the immutable truth that lies in objects, unless they are enlightened as if by a sun. That divine light enlighthens the mind, comes from God: it is the “intelligible light” in which, by which, through which, all things are illuminated for the intellect. In other words, as the sun makes material things visible to the eye, divine light makes eternal truths visible to the mind. Symbolically,this divine light summons my spirit in a mystic way, helping me to move the camera and discover the images I create enabling me to find a very intimate truth.
Thus, unknown shapes appear in these photographs, which originate from the work I do with the varying sources of light, their color, and intensity. It is useless to search for pre-existing shapes or known objects, because it is the light itself that is the object and not the source of illumination; and there is no representative link relating this particular object with any previously known shapes. This way, I was able to discover that within a ray of light there are many light tones (Talmud Tractate: Brachot – Blessings – 52b) until you reach the smallest and most intimate unit of light: the quantum. And - as Rabbi and Kabbalist Jaim Vital used to express it – I understood that every light has an external and internal halo and I see them both when I have my photographs developed.
I have created these FOTO GRAFIAS in the darkness of the night, using as tools the light of the moon, the light reflected in the water, neon lights, among others. These traits show what is invisible to the human eye.

THE HAND OF GOD
The Hand of God is an ancient term, yet it still has contemporary relevance. It was mentioned in biblical texts where stories of miracles were told in the Old Testament (Numbers 11-23, Ezekiel 3-14) and the New Testament (Peter 5.5-7). Even in present day, the expression of God's Hand has been used frequently in different ways. Some more recent uses of the term include Michelangelo’s famous painting The Creation of the Angel on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel around 1511, Charles Templeton’s 1977 book, and there are even video games and songs referring to The Hand of God. But one particular event that is currently associated with the term The Hand of God is the goal Diego Maradona scored when Argentina defeated England during FIFA’s 1986 World Cup in Mexico City.

By describing some of my photographs in this series called The Hand of God, I am recognizing images that occur without the participation of human beings directly. Meaning that these images are a result from events beyond the control of man. The current Hand of God series includes two types of photographs that have captured my fascination. These are figures that are formed, which could never be created or improved by man. They are forces of a physical origin and perhaps even mystical, giving rise to unrepeatable images that are completely different between them.
The first group of figures I am fascinated with is the interface between water and oils/ fuels. I take these pictures when it rains and I focus my lens towards the pavement where the rainwater meets the oil or fuel that has spilled from vehicles circulating the city. The figures created by the natural integration of these elements are incredibly beautiful and may even push the observer’s imagination to discover different interpretations. Some may see marble located within mountains, while others may see fossils millions of years old, or even Nebulae discovered in space by astronomers. Physicochemical interactions that when activated create something totally new. These seemingly chaotic behaviors are impossible to predict or understand.
The second group of photographs for The Hand of God series was taken at the beach. After the ocean tide lowers, footprints are left behind on the sand leaving incredible shapes to be dried in the hot sun. These figures and colors create diverse geometric patterns that are appealing due to their perfection and clarity.
As a photographer, I am always eager to capture incredible images created by nature. I am therefore, always looking for these figures in the universe created de novo, where biophysics expresses its own soul.

I have mentioned water, rain, oil, sand, sea, sun, which added to my eye and my soul are the ingredients that create these images by an unknown force = The Hand of God.

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Exhibitions

DECEMBER 18th 2015

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, MAR DE PLATA, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

OCTOBER 2014 - AUGUST 2015

SEMILLA MUSEUM, CHIHUAHUA, MÉXICO

FEBRUARY 14th 2014

CFE TECHNOLOGICAL MUSEUM, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO.

NOVIEMBRE 2012

EL CULTURAL SAN MARTÍN, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA.

AGOSTO 2012

BIBLIOTECA DEL CONGRESO, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA..

APRIL 2012

TEATRO ARGENTINO, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA.

SEPTEMBER
15-30, 2011

TEATRO ARGENTINO BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

SEPTEMBER
17-24, 2010

BIENNALE
OF CHIANCIANO
ITALIA

SEPTEMBER
9-20 2010

ARTISTIC CREATION AWARDS UNIVERSITY OF BELGRANO

JUNE 5,
2009

AERO PARQUE JORGE NEWBERY

JUNE 16,
2009

OPENING

AUGUST 21,
2009

SANTO DOMINGO. RÉPUBLICA DOMINICANA

AUGUST 16-28,
2008

EXHIBITION

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