STONE / |
The work of Pedro Isztin focuses mainly on what might be called "environmental portraits." Isztin uses stone as part of the environment or as an amulet that holds power over his characters. Most of the works of his series In Situ depict nude individuals in communion with the natural landscape. The nudity of the individuals aims not only to provide an insight into the life and personality of the subject but it is also the result of ritual undressing. For Isztin nudity is tantamount to transparency and self-revelation. When one considers that humans are the only animals that dress up, their nudity is realized as a return to a natural state. In Isztin's work "Juan Carlos," a man sits nude on the shallow waters of a river balancing a stone on his back. The river flows undisturbed around him while the ominous weather weighs heavily on him as does the rock on his back. Is Juan Carlos fleeing his worldly preoccupations, is he seeking wisdom in nature, or has he been ostracized into the wilderness? In this particular work, the stone is a weight, possibly a burden. In "Reverencia II," the model (the portraiture intention seems to have become secondary in this work) strikes a pose of nature adoration and the photographer lets the rocky background provide an altar for his staged pantheism. |