IN TRANSIT - in the name of beauty

​

​

Jon Gorospe's determined research and tireless look have taken us on several occasions on a journey not only geographical, but also well-thought-out around the paradox of the city (even the one we live in), which swallows and stimulates the expressive moments of its latency.

​

When we look at modern cities, Bruno Zevi's reflection in Saper vedere l'architettur is almost immediate. He encourages us to understand architecture from several points of view, but mainly from human activities and the change in the way space is managed as a result of the passing of time. IN TRANSIT, Jon Gorospe's photographs focus on this demanding look, which peels back the different layers that involve the architectural materiality.

​

Technology and the constant search for a form, new or unrelated, respond to the expectations of the present moment about a refined aesthetic of simplicity supporting the materiality, where the lethargic overlaps the passing life.
The new materials expand and carry with them a consignment of visual and tactile senses, leading to the search for those who live in cities for a touch, a disorder of warmth, multiplicity, and primarily, for the shape of the human that inhabits its interior. The height of the vertical planes composition and the proximity between the fronts of the most populated centres combine with the natural noise of city life, even when the natural light is sheltered at the end of a tiring day.

​

The work of Gorospe calls for greater clarity. Even his ability to direct our attention to the simplicity of the composition, the perspective is itself a symbol of worship and attention, the deified observation of a simple apparent, which has always existed in that location, corner, or point of view, but which for the regeneration of the city's life cycles is consumed before the time of our careful examination.

The ultra-contemporary approach to photographic compositions shots evokes our abstraction and is a magnificent composition of light and dark with the modernity of the materials. The visitor's contemplative gaze is prompted by a recognizable scenario, but it also generates an inner conflict about their personal experience with the urban environment. Everything depends on how we look, whether we look collapsed and contemplative, elevated in the search for an escape, or just resting on a void that complements each other, like an abstract painting canvas.

 

Gorospe's photographic abstraction is overlaid with the figuration of people who transit through cities.
The intensity and urgency of the footsteps indicate a disordered and babel-like rhythm.
Human shape is a moving fragment of city memory that does not have its own physiognomy, but is defined by the interpretation of a humanized sum of those who take shelter there and perform a task.

​

This corporeal mass of life that resurfaces with each socio-cultural - economic cycle, as well, is exalted in the video graphic piece through the randomness of the presentation of each image. For fractions of a second, we ask our memory about the city's identity and in response, the next movement immediately transports us to another geographic point - out of fatigue, and victims of time, we become nomads among the lives of the metropolises.

​

The inherent human attraction towards disorder is undeniable; however, the admiration for observing disorder holds a profound beauty.

​​

​

Mercedes Cerón

Lisbon, October 2024