Masterfully challenges traditional portraits by shifting physical anatomy into a multi-layered sociological statement within the discipline of conceptual collage photography. Part of Celso José Castro Daza’s critically acclaimed Buscando Papá series, this unique physical creation treats a premium paper workspace as an analytical laboratory for sub-surface social pressure, letting numbers of separate photographs merge into a monumental presence without main distortion. The vertical arrangement tracks an intense graphic rhythm where the stylized, purple-draped figure is heavily fractured alongside a row of sculpted phalluses at the base against an absolute yellow environment void. By dissolving the borders between liturgical costume and transgressive iconography, this calculated layout transforms a personal performative gesture into an undeniable architectural gravity.
The root of these unique photographic works by the artist Celso Castro occurred when the artist returned from Italy to live back in Colombia in 1987. Castro wanted to produce from the photographs he took with his camera larger versions of those pieces, but having only registered his models with a single photograph it was impossible to achieve, given this need he adopts the language of fractionation completing the message he wants to transmit through his work. Castro perfected his technique throughout the years, now on he takes numbers of photographs of his subject, which are then assembled to conform a unique photo collage without distortion of the main image, gluing all the images on a single sheet of archival paper, the final work consisted of the perfect graduation of many photographs to achieve his monumental man.
Explore this unique piece of conceptual collage photography by Celso Castro, a work of great value to collectors, available through The Art Design Project platform.
Conceptual Collage Photography - Nazareno #6, 2002. By Celso Castro
Nazareno #6, 2002
From The series Buscando Papá
Photomontage on archival paper
Dimensions: 40 H x 27.5 W in.
Unframed
Celso Castro is a referent of Colombian Caribbean art who has been drawing men for more than four decades, studying at the Pratt Institute in New York. In his works, Castro exalts the male genitalia, putting into tension the limits imposed by the sex/gender system that are part of an unquestioned patriarchal and phallocentric order. Most ment the ones he portrays are inhabitants of the Colombian coast, also constructing alternative ways of conceiving Latin American identity. By breaking taboos on corporality and male sexuality, his work has been censored on many occasions due to public accusations of immorality and pornography.
