Driven by his creative élan, Pep Ventosa lures us to further famous landmarks around the world. Snapshots taken from tourists’ favored vantage points make up the foundation of his works. He creates images that exude familiarity but whose evanescence constitutes a new visual experience that has at its core the collective world of images.
Horst Klöver


THE COLLECTIVE SNAPSHOT

Pep Ventosa's project "The Collective Snapshot" puts together hundreds of photographs into a picture sandwich immensely increasing the appetite for what we often see: landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge vibrate full of energy; the Brandenburg Gate performs a tap dance; the Eiffel Tower pirouettes; and the Coliseum beats time in the historical Roman earth. Decoding the images is a delightful game; one's own memories become another level of Ventosa's meta-snapshots.

The artist himself says: "What grows is an unique new narrative space that never actually happened, where the whole has traveled mysteriously further than what the camera documented. Part memory, part imagination. Not unlike the way we see."

The Spaniard, who moved from Barcelona to the San Francisco Bay Area, is a specialist in dismantling and joining together. He imitates and clarifies in a thorough, individual method of the process of seeing. Curators of the New York Guggenheim Museum and other institutions of similar rank have praised his well-traveled (but anything other than touristic) sight, leading to the inclusion of his work in a number of prestigious collections, along the west coast of the United States in particular.
Horst Klöver

Born in 1957 in Vilafranca del Penedès (Barcelona), Spain, Ventosa currently lives near San Francisco, California.

A lifelong passion for photography began with his first camera at the age of 10.  He went on to attend the Escola d’Arts i Oficis Artístics de l’Alt Penedès in Vilafranca to learn the mechanics of the darkroom. While the intervening years were spent pursuing musical aspirations – becoming an accomplished drummer with several recorded albums – the digital revolution in photography brought Ventosa strongly back to the visual medium. He taught himself the possibilities of the new digital darkroom, focusing on an exploration of the photographic image and the new forms it can take, and quickly made a name as an artist adept at deconstructing and reconstructing images into a new visual experience. His creative work processes are now used as a teaching guide for photography students.

Награды (избранное)

2014	Honorable Mention, Abstract, Photography Masters Cup
	Editor's Pick, LensCulture
2013	First Prize in Photography, Sausalito Art Festival
2012	Grand Prize, Americon Icon Competition
2011	Silver Award, Prix de la Photographie, Paris
2010	Jury Nomination, Photography Masters Cup, International Color Awards (from the Collective Snapshot series)
	Winner, Photography, Artspan, San Francisco, California, USA
2009	People's Choice Award, 3rd Place Winner, Prix de la Photographie, Paris (from the Carousel, In the Round series)
	Honorable Mention, London International Creative Competition (LICC), (from the Trees, In the Round series)
2007	Finalist, Photolucida’s Critical Mass
	Finalist, Pilsner Urquell International Photography Awards - Cityscapes
	Finalist, Pilsner Urquell International Photography Awards – Landscapes
2006	First Prize, National Juried Photography Competition, Coastal Arts League Gallery & Museum, Half Moon Bay, California
	Top 50 Photographers selection, Positive Focus' Body of Work
2005	Finalist, 18° and 19° Caminos de Hierro Concurso Fotográfico (2005 & 2004)
2004	3rd Prize, XVII Firart Penedès, Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain
	Best of Photography 2004 Annual, Photographers Forum Magazine
	Honorable Mention, 2004 National Juried Photography Competition, Coastal Arts League Gallery & Museum, Half Moon Bay, California

Групповые выставки (избранное)

2015	Studio Gallery, San Francisco, California
2014	ProArts Gallery, Oakland, California
2012	Village Theatre Art Gallery, Danville, California
2011	Arc Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA
2010	Photographers Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA
	Kelly Street Gallery, Half Moon Bay, California, USA
	Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain
2007	Musee de l'Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland
	ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair, with Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Madrid, Spain (2007 & 2005)
	DFOTO, International Contemporary Photography and Video-Art Fair, with Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, San Sebastian, Spain (2007 & 2005)
2006	Space 743 Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA
	St. Louis Artists’ Guild, Clayton, Missouri, USA. Jury selected by Bonne Stutski, Senior Editor of the Smithsonian Magazine
	Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, California, USA. Jury selected by Laura Richard Janku, editor-in-chief of Artweek
	Coastal Arts League Gallery & Museum, Half Moon Bay, California, USA (2006 & 2004)
	Firart Penedès, Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain (2006 & 2004)
2005	ARTissima, The International Fair of Contemporary Art, with Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Torino, Italy
	Palma Dotze Galeria d'Art, Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain
	Viridian Artists XVI National Exhibition, New York City. Jury selected by the late curator of 20th Century Art at New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Robert Rosenblum
	Crocker Art Museum, Crocker-Kingsley Exhibition, Sacramento, California. Jury selected by pop artist Mel Ramos. Ventosa’s work remains in the permanent collection of the Crocker Art Museum.
	Caminos de Hierro Exhibition, 16 cities in Spain (2005 & 2004). Jury selected by the Royal Photographic Society of Madrid.
2004	Museum of Contemporary Art, Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, Colorado, USA
	Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show, Harvard Square, Massachusetts. Jury selected by Robert Fitzpatrick, Pritzker Director and CEO of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
	Sala dels Trinitaris, Catalunya's biennial "Primavera Fotográfica", Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain
	Marin Society of Artists National Exhibition, Ross, California. Jury selected by Robert Shaw, Professor of Art, University of California, Berkeley
	American 24/7 Exhibitions - Traveling exhibition to Manhattan’s Bryant Park, Grand Central Station and International Center of Photography, the United Nations main lobby, Washington DC's Union Station, Corcoran Gallery and Smithsonian Institutes, San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences, and the Denver Museum of Natural History

 

Эссе/Статьи (избранное)

AZART Photographie Magazine, March, 2009

10x15, Madrid, 2009

Esquire Magazine, September, 2008

Orange Life Magazine, Canada, 2008

Digital Collage and Painting, Professor Susan Ruddick Bloom, Focal Press, 2006

American 24/7, Rick Smolan and David Elliot Cohen, DK Publishing, 2003

7x7 Magazine, San Francisco, California, 2004

Best of Photography Annual, Photographer’s Forum Magazine, 2004

San Francisco Chronicle, California, 10/2004 & 1/2005

El Punt, Catalunya, Spain, 3/2004

el 3 de vuit, Penedès, Spain, 10/2003 & 3/2004

Half Moon Bay Review, California, 2007

La Fura, Vilafranca, Spain, 10/2003 & 3/2004