Where we gonna play in the future. From The Light Series

Where we gonna play in the future, 2023 by Jose Ricardo Contreras González
From The Light Series
Oil on canvas
Image size: 70 H cm. x 180 W cm.
Unframed

THE LIGHT (2018 - 2022)
This series of pieces is the result of an investigation into the use of light as a tool for the representation of reality and image creation. Starting in the 40s, the work of the artist Edward Hopper took significant recognition that led to becoming a benchmark for cinematographers in everyone, especially because of their relationship in film noir and the
influence exercised by the painter in the work of filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Jim Jarmusch, Martin Scorsese, and Wim Wender.
Hopper was inspired by the cinema to create his paintings and the cinema became inspired by Hopper.
The images that the series represents were taken from the film and behind the scenes of the film "Shirley Vision of Reality" by 2013 by the Austrian director Gustav Deutsch, in an exercise that I seek to literally recreate a series of paintings by Hopper and with they narrate the story of three decades beginning in North America from the 30s and going until the 60s. The scenes depicted in the film are interior images inhabited by solitary people, who relate to the outside through the entrances of light and sound, images that They speak of a world that was, but that resembles the intermittent state of simulation and quarantine of the contemporary world.
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José Ricardo Contreras González's work revolves around the painting. The artist, a native of Bucaramanga, holds a Master of Arts from the Universidad Industrial in Santander. As a result of his work, he has held solo and group exhibitions in Colombia and Spain.

The artist explores the image through the examination of physical and digital records involving photography, film, and other artistic expressions.

Currently, its process is guided by two investigations that are conducted in parallel. The first reflects on the mechanisms of representation of reality, the images of flow, and their implications, and the second investigates the landscape and migration processes, using the review of domestic archives, literature, and fieldwork as a resource.