Matthias Olmeta for HRW

Matthias Olmeta

- In what way is ART a tool for activism?

After forty years of liberal economics, capitalism and consumerism, and a century of history punctuated by wars, I like to believe that art has the ability to transform and heal.

- In what way does your chosen piece for HRW reflect 2020?

In Letters to my Grandchildren, the question of the future and the legacy left to future generations is central. Rows of text are manually engraved in gold leaf behind the portraits of children. Those sacred texts and prayers are directly addressed to them.

- What gives you hope?

Upcoming generations.

Letters to my grandchildren

The Ambrotypes entitled "Letters to my grandchildren" deepen the work of Matthias Olmeta as part of a series of portraits of children and adolescents (the mystics of immanence) which initiated in 2010, it consciously raises the question of the future and the legacy left to future generations after forty years of liberal economics, capitalism and consumerism and after a century of history punctuated by wars. 

These contemporary portraits, which technically establish a link with the origins of photography, stem from a protocol of representation - the face is highlighted and the gaze maintained by a tight framing and the frontality of the pose - and they act as universal contemporary icons purposely void of any connotations. The technical choice of the ambrotype imposes from the beginning of the process, time frames that ritualize the photographic act (substrate preparation and pauses, instant development). The large view camera built by Matthias Olmeta forms, moreover, a five-meter-high work chamber for artistic interventions.

The letters manually engraved on the reverse of the acrylic glass plates are inspired by singular readings, from social history or spiritual cultures and are composed of personal ideas, quotes or literary snippets. They recognize the state of the world in terms of apocalyptic news and recall a number of precepts inherent to all religious or spiritual currents practiced today to transform a collective destiny engaged or compromised.

Matthias Olmeta was born in Marseille in 1968. He became a photographer in his adolescence. For many years, he was interested in madness and darkness, developing through his subjects and explorations a personal perception of alienation and disease. The monumental polyptics, afraid of the dark (2003) My second brain (2007), forclos (2008), Quest for Humility (2008/09), I love you (2010) Tengo tanto los hermanos que no puedo contar (2013 ) crown respectively an approach rooted in his biography.

The importance of the gaze is fundamental from the very beginning of his work on the series of portraits of children and adolescents which was worked on for years in the margins of more ambitious projects. Beyond the subject's gaze, the photographer carries us to a new dimension a new space. This space of revelation and incarnation, of presence, is destined to welcome the awakening of consciences.    Generally, the perspective of another - when he is not absent - of the child, is often accompanied by decisive words. The quality of language then reveals what is in the order of conditioning or revelation. The photographic field in the series "Letters to my Children" becomes the space of all intentions, such as the icon on a gold background which is from Byzantine Christianity, a place of prayer, or for Buddhists in the composition of mandalas who employ gold dust and create other spaces intentions.

Every being has the duty to be born to himself and to fulfill his life. What in the West is often seen as a form of stupidity has however for centuries been carried forth by writers and poets, painters, sculptors, photographers and filmmakers. In 1849, Victor Hugo delivered his famous speech on how to end poverty in the National Assembly. In 1931, Hermann Hesse wrote, "I do not share one of the ideals of our time. [...] I believe in the laws of humanity, thousands of years old, and I believe they will survive all the blurred models of our time [...] With the help of this faith we can support life but still make the time triumph [...] " Celine describes the human crossing its most symptomatic behaviors entitled "Journey to the end of the night". Pier Paolo Pasolini condemns consumerism across his privateers writings and Lutheran Letters while questioning the legitimacy of the powers that are in place and more engagingly asking how it is possible "to be" in the world. This questioning suggests replacing morality by conscience and to act accordingly, it also means replacing the sublimation of ideals by the transcendence of a reality that is understood and heard.   

By writing on his plates since 2015, which in the past was reserved for a materiality produced by the collodion texture acting upon the plate, Matthias Olmeta gives his images a meaning, through a set of barely legible lines covered in gold leaf, integrated in the creation of photography just as Matthias Olmeta would like to see humanity integrate a set of sacred texts, religious or secular, which brings to light that which is no longer of biographical order but rather destiny.

Text by Charlotte Waligora, Art Historian

MATTHIAS OLMETA - BIO

Matthias Olmeta graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Santa Monica University in 1992. He has since travelled the world in exploration of the unknown, to learn and understand the world of mysticism and energies. Olmeta works with the ambrotype; A glass plate coated with collodion is immersed in a bath of silver nitrate and exposed to the light, creating a negative. By placing the plate on a black background, a positive image appears. Using this method, Olmeta portrays the mystical energies of the inner soul, creating piercing portraits. In the series Letters to my Grandchildren, Olmeta engraved rows of text in gold leaf behind the portraits. This creates a multi-dimensional aspect to the works, as the words can only be read from certain angles, depending on where light hits the surface. The black-and-white simplicity of the models contrasts yet complements the detailed, meticulous gold leaf writing. The ambrotype intaglio combination is only visible in certain perspectives, reflecting the ephemeral stages of human life. Olmeta has published several artist books and his works are in private collections such as: Collection agnès b, the Wilson Centre for Photography, the Elton John Collection, Collection Freddy Denaes, Collection Gensollen, as well as international public collections.

www.matthiasolmeta.com Instagram: @olmetamatthias

This artwork is framed and located in Marseille, France. WILLAS contemporary will facilitate artwork release within 21 days after payment. Can be picked up by the buyer, or shipped at the buyer´s expense.