Pierre Gonnord’s Arraigados is a jewel of a show on view too briefly in New York but a reminder of how skillful and soulful this artist is. “Arraigados” translates awkwardly as “Rooted”. In any language, it is haunting.
On view are five large format color portraits, handsomely framed, along with a video. These are images of miners from Northwestern Spain – Asturias. Each of the subjects has been captured shortly after finishing a work shift, with coal dust and exhaustion still on their faces. The cultural organization Instituto Cervantes in New York has been touring this simple exhibition around the world (Palermo, Manchester, Chicago), but this economy does not diminish impact of the work.
“I wanted to show the echo of the work on their faces,” says Gonnord. This is a difficult way of life: dangerous, toxic and vanishing. The mines employ less than 10% of the people they did 20 years ago. Gonnord has made an homage that is unique, handsome and evocative. “Portraits are about capturing the character, emotion and psychology of the person,” adds Gonnord. These faces evidence not only the toil but also the histories – cultural differences, immigration from Eastern Europe, strikes.
For Gonnord’s video, the workers – men and a few women – were asked to rinse off after coming up from the mines and then to stand in front of the camera as easily as they could, “A closeup, in silence, with just one spot of light, 10 minutes maximum.” The results are striking, their fatigue and adjustment to the light from hours of darkness render the models very vulnerable. It is difficult to read what is emotion and what is simply their sincere and awkward effort to comply with the artist’s request.
Gonnord specializes in a magical slight of hand finding a catchlight in his subject’s eyes, an idea dating back to Rembrandt. The eyes become beacons, and these portraits mesmerize, insisting that the viewer “Look into my eyes”. The limited light makes for dark, vignetting shadows which grade to blackness; the colors of the clothing are dusky, muted grays and browns and greens, and they play against the dirty mottled, wrinkled flesh. The chiaroscuro effect brings the faces into relief. This is not tenebrous so much as lucent and luminous. Souls emerge from the void into the light. The Unseen Eye has looked into these eyes.
W.M. Hunt
W.M. Hunt writes as The Unseen Eye. He is an occasional contributor and an original supporter of L’Œil de la Photographie.
Pierre Gonnord, Arraigados
