Article @ Lucid communication: fernando prats, photographic internet master

By Jacob Schere

This is the inaugural blog in my new Cooler Than Cool Photography 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, Hàbitat Hábitos.

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 artists, including Fernando Prats on Flickr.

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 Aires, 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.

You have an amazing online presence. How has this helped your creativity?

To show works to various audiences through its peculiar mechanisms can help producing a new look & feel to those same works. Although there are secure movements within certain styles -or at least, that’s what one can think…- each audience has its tastes and, surprisingly, they do not match very frequently.

Has it allowed you to make a living as an artist?
Well, certainly not because of online presence at all… the 2.0 audience is very reluctant to pay for contents or artworks even if their price is nominal and ridiculous[ly low].

Do you ever find your online presence to much to keep control of?
Probably I should be but my sincere answer is, I’m not sure why, no. Perhaps the fact of doing different things at the same time most of the time, could be considered a sort of training.
(Author's note: I especially feel Fernando on that one. I too at times feel overwhelmed by training to keep an online presence fresh and constantly evolving. I too, as a photographer, feel that the online presence is a form of training. A way for artist to keep honing their creativity).

What new artistic works do you have coming out soon?
The last book I published is “Deshielo” (poetry), the next one is the full version of “Immadencity: Buenos Aires Contemporary Architecture according to fernandoprats”. I’m preparing one about New York and one about Barcelona and will be correcting “Monda Lironda” (poetry, which complets the three-lejía 'Al Català’, alongside “Deshielo” and “Corto y afilado”) for next year. Also, I’ve got two or three series of new work in-progress with painter Miguel Ruibal and the idea of presenting a real exhibition of Prats/Ruibal.

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This is just a taste of all the work that Fernando Prats has accomplished and his amazing presence on the web. I feel fortunate to be able to count Fernando Prats as one of my dear artistic friends. His work continues to inspire me and he has helped me to set high goals for myself with regards to my artistic expression. I always look forward to seeing his work, and I know that someday we will be able to cross paths in the flesh. I want to send out a heartfelt thank you to Fernando Prats for helping me to create this inaugural blog in the Cooler than Cool Photography section of the Lucid Communication website.

Fernando maintains an amazing Internet presence in the cybersphere. He interacts, posts and generally uses the Internet to pursue his artistic visions. This is a list of Fernando’s presence on the Internet. I invite you all to take a look and browse through the different links. Some of his works are available for free to download.

lifestream
wikipedia
flickr
facebook
google+
twitter
youtube
vimeo
issuu
scribd
slideshare
saatchi online
500px
fotopunto
goodreads
library thing
www.librovirtual.org/autor/AUT0173/Fernando-Prats
www.lulu.com/spotlight/prats
blurb
red bubble
behance
blogger
wordpress
bubok
myspace
about.me
ysinembargo.com
lesargots.com
estudiprats.com

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. . 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.

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Taken on: November 20, 2011

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