MOOD Art Fair | Feria de Arte Contemporáneo

PABLO COUSTEAU VIDA

Awarded the National Prenamo Photography Award in 2019, and also held six solo exhibitions in Madrid and Marbella, Spain, during 2020.

His works is a hybrid between painting and photography. ‘I always felt passion towards contemporary art, and through a digital technique that I call “abstract photo painting” I try to reach an image like an abstract painting starting from photography.’

Such a digital process of transformation can last weeks, or months, and Cousteau does not give up until he has achieved the first idea captured in the photo.

Each subject (it could be a flower, a tree, a woman, a bottle, a ferry wheel, etc.) needs a different treatment in terms of colours, style, texture, abstraction, etc. so, as a first step, he makes hundreds of photographs in order to choose afterwards the one he likes.

Then he analyses the photograph chosen, what he wants to convey and how to achieve it.

The digital process is not always successful and many times it is difficult to achieve what is expected. He only shows the photos that he considers successful.

To achieve that, he must pay close attention to detail, which is what makes a photo interesting. It is not really the landscapes or a sunset that makes an attractive photo, but the details like the reflection of a mirror, the splendour of a flower or the colour of a nice earring.

The process can be slow, but very satisfactory at the end of the work and when the artist can explain where he obtained the image, why he chose that image and a brief explanation of the transformation process. This process can take several weeks.

‘I usually start all my exhibitions with a brief explanation where I explain to my audience the process of my art.’