Rafa Castells

AVUI SOC RIC

Barcelona
Jun 25 - Sep 10, 2020
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Curated by Gracias por su visita

AVUI SÓC RIC is a solo exhibition by the artist and photographer Rafa Castells (Barcelona, ​​1989) in collaboration with the collective Gracias por su visita at Nogueras Blanchard gallery (Isaac Peral 7, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat), within the framework of Art Nou 2020.

L’Hospitalet de Llobregat and especially the square of Isaac Peral as Rafa Castells home and playground has been the base for his production and work. He observes and documents this environment daily, only equipped with his camera he interacts with everything that crosses his path and that catches his attention. This path and context is of an industrial landscape, of a working class city with its urban neighborhoods. It is in this field, where Rafa Castells looks for a beauty, a poetry. Like a wanderer who inhabits an attitude that can be understood as a slogan, a punchline, he chants a “mantra”: “AVUI SÓC RIC” (“Today I am rich”).

A series of analog photographs captured within this environment, exploited to the limits of its image capacity and printed on industrial canvas, the ones that dominantly contribute to the aesthetics of this area. In a poetic dialogue, with texts, slogans and criticism; references to songs, messages taken from the neighborhood streets and walls, and from his own imaginary… he plays and tackles the heartfelt politics that surround him.

With these photographs, Rafa Castells captures a moment of change and transition in the neighborhood. Castells does not approach exclusively from an anthropological point of view, but as a first-person spectator and actor of the implementation of the cultural district project and its impact on the transformation of a city traditionally linked to industry and the working class.

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Installation

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

Selected Works

Rafa Castells
ara vinc

2020

Analog photography print on PVC canvas

200 x 280 cm (78 34 x 110 14 inches)

Rafa Castells
agent gentrificador

2020

Analog photography print on PVC canvas

200 x 165 cm (78 34 x 64 3132 inches)

Rafa Castells
DON'T CALL THE COPS

2020

Analog photography print on PVC canvas

250 x 330 cm (98 716 x 129 2932 inches)

Rafa Castells
Guide Your Mind To Celestial Heights. Transport Your Spirit To Heavenly Moods. Spread The Fragrance Of Peace.

2020

Analog photography print on PVC canvas

250 x 185 cm (98 716 x 72 2732 inches)

Rafa Castells
Avui soc ric, no tinc memoria. Avui soc ric, no tinc diners

2020

Analog photography print on PVC canvas

200 x 165 cm (78 34 x 64 3132 inches)

Drag