UNREALITIES

TONY REMARTINEZ

// Tony, who is based in Sitges, Spain, has been photographing for a long time, having learned photography autodidactically. Only in the last few years has he begun to express what he calls his unrealities, his deconstruction of reality.

“I have been photographing for many years, but I had never shown my work to anyone (pure shame) when I discovered instagram, three years ago the possibility of showing my work, anonymously (in fact many people do not know that I have instagram). … What I intend is to continue creating and enjoying, and start participating in a photography contest and organize another exhibition when the Covid pandemic ends,” says Tony.

“When you look, you observe something, a painting, a photograph has to convey to you, and fill your imagination with feelings, of whatever kind.”

Tony Remartinez

What draws you to the arts?

“Fundamentally expression, emotions, I always say that when you look at a painting, a photograph (regardless of whether you understand it or not) it has to convey something, emotions, concerns, fear …, always something.“

What do you like best about abstract photography such as the images you have shared with us?

“I can create my own unreality of reality or maybe the other way around. Every picture has its story, and its relationship with others as well.“

In Tony´s images he shows his vision of the reality that surrounds him. When he goes out on photo walks, he thinks about what he could do or with what other image he could merge a particular scene, imagining what to combine. Faced with a single reality or a beautiful image, he transforms that image into an unreality, something he imagines either when taking the picture, or that occurs to him afterwards during the editing process on his iPad.

We asked Tony if he has a specific editing technique. Tony does not use any of the well-known big name editing software. He told us that “Seriously, I wouldn’t be able to do the same processing on an image twice if I tried.” Instead, he goes with the flow, turning each image into the work of art it needs to be, in his mind, working almost like a painter, literally using his fingers on the screen of his iPad.

Conceptually, Tony always asks himself what the person in an image may be thinking, where they may be going, what they are doing, etc. What we like so much about Tony´s photos, apart from their impressionist feel, is that when looking at these images, we can make up our own stories, and perhaps get lost a bit in dreams of otherworldly places.

Click on the photos to see a larger image.