This artwork is a striking photomontage featuring a black-and-white photograph of a ballet dancer poised elegantly in a studio. The dancer's elongated limbs and delicate tutu evoke a sense of grace and poise. Layered over the image is an abstract overlay, consisting of dynamic splashes and streaks of paint, adding a contemporary twist to the classic pose. The contrast between the monochrome photograph and the vibrant, chaotic paintwork creates a visually arresting tension, blending traditional elegance with modern artistic expression. The overlay appears to frame the dancer, enhancing her prominence and highlighting the fluidity of movement. The presence of scattered tape marks within the composition suggests an experimental and tactile approach, inviting viewers to contemplate the interplay of different artistic mediums. This complex juxtaposition serves as a reflection on the convergence of discipline and creativity.
Isaza, one of Colombia’s most influential fashion photographers, initially studied fashion design. He united his interest in fashion with one of his earliest passions: photography. Graceful female figures lounge in fashionable poses. Paper costumes that seem borrowed from Oskar Schlemmer’s triadic ballet make the ballerinas look like marionettes. Their dislocation recalls the puppets Hans Bellmer featured in his surreal photographic experiments.
Standing Ballet, 2010
Standing Ballet, 2010
Archival pigment print mounted on aluminum intervened by the artist
Dimensions: 65 H x 48 W in.
Signed, titled, dated, and annotated on verso by the artist.
Efren Isaza, one of Colombia’s most influential fashion photographers, initially studied fashion design. He united his interest in fashion with one of his earliest passions: photography. Graceful female figures lounge in fashionable poses. Paper costumes that seem borrowed from Oskar Schlemmer’s triadic ballet make the ballerinas look like marionettes.
Their dislocation recalls the puppets Hans Bellmer featured in his surreal photographic experiments. Frida Kahlo’s face with her dark, furrowed eyebrows, peers at the viewer out of different scenes; her hair is knotted artfully on her head.The allusions evoked in the imaginative creations of Colombian Fashion photographer Isaza are diverse: he cites and alienates an arsenal of styles before melding them into new compositions OF ONE OF A KIND LIMITED EDITION ARTWORK. It might be a certain scene, a poem, a petal of a flower, or the idea of a person that inspires a new work. His passion for breaking the boundaries of traditional fashion photography is palpable in each of Isaza’s unique works. He is less concerned with fashion than the image, the play of contrasts and the magic and the emotions sometimes saturnine,sometimes buoyant, sometimes surreal, and yet always beguiling that the image transports.
