The work of Californian and Latin American photographer and film-maker Raul Gonzo plunges us into a world of acid colours, sets, costumes and whimsical narratives. A cinematic universe strengthened over the years, just waiting to be explored.
Director and photographer since 2010, Raul Gonzo works with colour and the illusion of a child constructing the stereotyped world of a doll. To this apparent innocence is added an attraction to vintage, and to a certain geometric (dis)construction. His career began with the self-production of his first works, enabling him to be spotted for the creation of video clips. At the same time, it was his artistic universe that began to take shape, with photographs that he grouped together in a series called “Color Madness”. His visual language emerges through sequences that recompose and divert the everyday. Professional, public or domestic evocations are shattered by the artificiality of poses and superfluous settings. The stories told seem to have come out of a 1950s film, or an illusionist’s show.
The Game of Décor
In 2018, his first short film Margo Hoo “Couldn’t Sleep!” confirms that his work straddles the border between contemporary art and cinema. This short film recounts the nocturnal misadventures of a young girl who can’t sleep, and uses the opportunity to invent her own world and explore that of her neighbours… Here, the dreamlike narrative is supported by the creation of a complete scenographic universe where the set becomes a character, and the characters seem to dialogue with the objects. This characteristic is also present in his video clips, and through his construction of conceptual sets, as in “Half of everything”. His work with objects gives us a better understanding of his inspirations. He expresses his attraction to children’s books and their illustrations – including the animal cartoon characters drawn by Dr. Seuss – but also the influence of Tim Burton’s early films and the work of Wes Andersson: a compilation of inspirations crossing childhood and adulthood, spontaneity and social discomfort, narrative stereotypes and pop humour.
États-Unis – Californie