Chema Madoz: Turning the ordinary into anything but
By Anna Sacks on Thursday, April 29th, 2010
Jose Maria Rodriguez Madoz, or Chema Madoz for short, is a famous Spanish photographer. He is best known for his black and white surrealist photographs, otherwise known as object photography. Madoz began his love affair with the camera when he attended college in Madrid where he studied photography and art history. He then got his first big break in 1985 when The Royal Photography Society in Madrid held the first major exhibition of his work.
Later, Madoz began his concentration on object photography in the year 1990. This realm of photography is where he found his niche in the world of great artists. Since then, Madoz has received numerous awards ranging from the coveted Kodak Award in 1991 to the National Photography Award of Spain in 2000.
So what makes Madoz’s art so appealing and so worthy of recognition? There are many different factors, like the simplicity of his work. The photos Madoz takes are easy to admire, but they usually take a second glance to really understand. His photos make a statement, and unlike the many other artists of our time that statement is not necessarily meant to be political, religious or satirical. However, there is definitely a message behind each photo. Each photo is meant to spark a thought in the mind of the viewer that makes each person look just a little harder at the things we see and ignore around us every day. This is another factor in Madoz’s great popularity. He makes society take a second look at the things we take for granted every day; for example, a pair of shoes.
So far it’s not really that interesting, so let’s add some detail. What about a pair of men’s leather wingtip dress shoes? Still not that exciting? What if we seamlessly laced those shoes together? Does that make a statement? Our minds flare and thoughts just start spewing out. In the photograph described, the shoes look like they are holding on to each other, as if they need each other, like one without the other would be nothing at all. Suddenly, the shoes take on personalities of their own. They are not shoes at all, but conjoined twins, living and thriving because they are together. The sight is somewhat unnerving at first, a little off, and all we can do is stare. That was Madoz’s purpose: he makes whole worlds out of single, simple changes in the norm.
Another example? How about we take a more popular picture of his: a ladder, mirror and a blank wall. Now imagine the mirror is hung on the wall and the ladder is leaning on the mirror at about a 15 degree angle. The mirror reflects the ladder and the empty room behind it. Because of the angle of the ladder in the mirror, an illusion is created, one that makes the scene look as if we could walk up our side of the ladder and climb over into the mirror. Again, our minds race. We begin to understand how Alice must have felt when she realized she could actually climb through the looking glass. We begin to wonder what life would be like in the world of our reflections. We begin to yearn for that world, for that place we don’t know. Our mind is in a state of quandary from the simple placement of three ordinary objects we encounter in our lives day in and day out.
This leads us to the best part of Madoz’s photos; the fact that he does not force his ideas on us. Instead, he leaves his art open to the interpretation of the viewer, as if each piece is asking, “what do you see?” or rather, ” what can you see?” With this freedom, Madoz makes a deep impact on his viewers. Once we see his art, we will never look at an apple, a stack of books or a bobby pin as anything less than extraordinary. And somewhere in the back of our busy minds, it clicks; these simple objects are extraordinary because our world is anything but ordinary.
Cover and story photo from Creative Commons
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