iconTechnique: Photography
Miguel Vallinas Prieto is a Spanish photographer born in 1971. He currently lives in the town of Medina del Campo in Valladolid, Spain.
After several years of work in the television, industrial and especially advertising sectors, he now devotes most of his time to developing his own original creations. He sees them as studies on different notions of landscapes, such as nature in its purest state, the urban environment, contemporary architecture and portraiture. His approach is more methodical than improvised, carefully deciding the location, the decor, the type of light, and all the other determining elements that will help optimize each of his works. Technique is essential in his approach, both when taking the photographs and in the following stages of post-production. He often uses personal themes that will trigger an interest beyond simple contemplation, while trying to provoke reflection that reaches out to others. His work could be described as a search for beauty, that which is discovered through the artist's view of the world. His works have been exhibited in multiple galleries in several major cities around the world, including New York, Hong Kong, Berlin, Singapore, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Seoul, Miami, etc. Her work has also been featured in prestigious magazines like Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post and more.
His most recent work is much more surreal and he uses photo montage to present the human being in relation to the notion of identity: what does he want to be, what does he create to be and appear, what does he want to be? what do others see of him and ultimately, what is he in reality?
Over the years, he has developed several distinct series, while following a common thread around the theme of identity. The series are: Pieles (Skins), Segundas Pieles (Second Skins), Raiz (Roots) and This is not . In the series Pieles , the artist presents to us the different types of people that we could become, professionally or socially, those who are within our reach or not, those who are imposed or adopted depending on the circumstances. In Segundas Pieles , images attempt to isolate a person's character. They do not take into account context or references and are based solely on the individual being. Segundas Pieles suggests options, possibilities and the different choices we can adopt in life. The busts of the characters in this series are represented by animals.
Raiz continues the reflection on the identity, existence and choice of the individual. The photographs show bodies whose heads are formed from plants and bouquets of flowers in different phases of flowering. While the body represents the stem and the head, the flower, the root remains invisible. The root is, however, the basis of our existence and inevitably determines the direction of the paths we take. The term also refers to different kinds of roots: our unions, our supports, our foundations, our references, etc.
this is not constitutes the culmination of the 3 previous series. It is an open series, which can be interpreted in a way as diverse as the images that run through our heads. It is intended as a deconstruction of the human being: it begins with a familiar representation then evolves towards a surrealist image. Unlike previous series, there is a physical separation between the body and the head, with the head represented by inanimate objects. this is not aims to delve again into the concept of identity and the choices of the individual, combined with certain objects and images that can also influence and condition us.