Carlos Pazos

CARLOS PAZOS (Barcelona, 1949).
Untitled.
Photograph, copy 5/60.
Signed with initials and justified by hand.
Measurements: 14 x 9 cm; 24,5 x 18,5 cm (frame).

Pazos's photography is dominated by self-portraiture and self-staging. He himself is the main subject of his images, using his body to create a gallery of characters and archetypes. As we can see, there is a clear "camp" aesthetic in his photographs: theatrical poses, artificial sets, saturated colors and a deliberate exaggeration that celebrates kitsch and superficiality as a strategy of criticism.

Carlos Pazos studied architecture in Barcelona, and furthered his artistic knowledge at the Eina School in the same city. He made his debut in 1971 at the Ateneo de Barcelona, and since then has held numerous exhibitions in Spain, Italy and Belgium. He has carried out actions in New York and Barcelona, and participated in "Seny i rauxa: 11 artistas catalans", at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris. He has been awarded the National Prize for Plastic Arts (2004), and is represented at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Fundación La Caixa, the MACBA and the Centro de Arte Santa Mónica in Barcelona, the Museos de Bellas Artes de Álava and Teruel and the Fundación Antonio Pérez in Cuenca. In 2007, the MACBA in Barcelona dedicated an anthological exhibition to him, conceived as an ironic journey through his work.