"la granada - Limited Edition of 20" Photograph

Cristina Jimenez Rey is a visual artist and an art director from Spain. Her journey with art began when she was only eleven years old, through the traditional medium of drawing. During her teen years she picked up her mother’s Yashica Electro 35, an analog camera, and began to shoot her friends and her social circle. From then on, her passion for photography rose. Rey has won artistic competitions and received major grants, time and time again she has exhibited her caliber and passion for the arts. Quoting Bukowski, “If you have to wait for it to roar out of you, then wait patiently. If it never does roar out of you, do something else.” Rey says, “I sincerely believe that it is true and can be extrapolated to anything you want to do in life. It is not enough if you like something, it has to be inevitable.” The unique perspectives demonstrated in Rey’s work reflect just that- inevitability. It stirs up a sense of nostalgia in one’s heart. The textured edges of her photographs are reminiscent of old albums. Through her lens, we see an interplay between shadows, light, and colors. Usually, the night is depicted with cold hues and a neutral color palette. Warm tones play an interesting role in her photos, kindling comfort. Photographs taken in the dead of the night are often eerie or unsettling, but Rey creates pieces that do the opposite, finding solace in loneliness. Golden and orange shadows help resemble old vintage lamps and fixtures in worn-down buildings. The confluence of modern and the old is unique to Rey. A mundane food truck or a gas station is transformed into sights of still memory by the artist. Most images use light as a means to create a spotlight on the subject, in some cases using silhouettes to highlight the main focus of the image. Even in pieces where the focal point seems to be the odd one out the composition and elements fuse together seamlessly.(Interview extract for the curator magazine)