Guillem Ramos-Poquí

                         Digital Photomontages
1996-2004



"The Invisible Ship" (Part of "Memories and Revelations - Homage to Tarkousky" series)

"Roots" 2003 (part of "Memories and Revelations" Series)

"Orwell's Prediction, Study" 2003 (part of "Homage to Kafka, Orwell and Marcuse" Series)













"The Magic Forest (Self Portrait 1)" 2001









"On the Way to Egypt" 2000 (part of "...Another Country-Revisited Histories and Identities" Series)










"Time's Illusions" 2000 (part of "Recollections" Series)








"The Love of Animals" 1998 (part of "Invaders" Series)

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The Virtual and Real Universe of Ramos-Poquí

Introducción por Josep Corredor Matheos, 2001

There are artists who are precursors, but who, once their approaches have been established, fall behind - their innovative sources having burned out. Relatively few artists remain open to change and know how to take advantage of the new times in order to launch new initiatives. Amongst the latter we find, without a doubt, Guillem Ramos-Poquí.
This attitude is today more difficult to adopt, given the general situation in the visual arts. David Rodway remarked that, regarding the task of articulating meaning through art, "in more recent times poststructuralist thinkers would make us believe that this is a fruitless project since they see meaning as inherently undecidable" and, confronting this view 'Ramos-Poquí's enthusiastic optimism about the possibilities of art, supported by philosophical study, locates his work today, as it was in the late sixties, in a real critical avant-garde or counter-culture".
This original artist, working within a new avant-garde, continues his need to establish a relationship between his art, art, and the real world. In his work, certainly, there has always been the presence of living beings, objects and spaces which present ·or represent the everyday scene. Already in 1968, as was noted by Alexandre Cirici: "he widens the idea of the object in order to construct environments, entire rooms, like an actual bedroom, with his partner's clothes inside a cupboard, a dining room with the left avers of a lunch, or his own bed with him on top". This need to break the limits between art and reality has evolved towards greater complexity and, at the same time, the results are clearer and truly simple.
We could say that, in the best and deeper sense, what he does is to create games. We remember Nietzsche's words: "I do not know of any other method to treat major undertakings but as if they were games: this is, as an indication of greatness, an essential basis or starting point'. Objects are taken from the real world with great love and assembled in groups in which the need to create new evocations of the world mix with an acute sense of humour. Very small figures of people and animals: birds, reptiles, monkeys, dolls and other objects: boxes, cages, spectacles, adverts and other images and, in all, the things which can give us an indication of that which is or can be the universe of our daily life, ordered so it can be interpreted as chaos or as a wonderful world like the one seen by Alice.
Ramos-Poquí's restless spirit has led him to explore the field of the new technology. Up until now, computer generated image techniques have not been used by artists to their best advantage. Ramos-Poquí however, has seen it as an instrument ideally suited for his purposes. In his case, the limitless space open to creativity has instigated many images which instead of closing in upon themselves, open, conceptually, in endless ways. In these images, reality and imagination, wakefulness and dream, the possible and that represented as impossible, form a single whole.
In a way we could talk here about the surrealist legacy, but this will be only partly true since, deep down, and contrary to what the avant-garde would like us believe, contemporary art takes the art of the Renaissance to its ultimate conclusions. The panoramic images of Ramos-Poquí do not sit on a solid floor, but float, resulting in the unexpected and defying classification.
All the elements and their heterogeneous associations are suspended in a space which could not be described as aerial or watery, but as oneiric. Actually, as if to confirm this, the faces of the feminine
characters sometimes appear with their eyes closed. Contemplating these images we are submerged in a strange and nevertheless familiar universe. The subtle blues, pinks, greens and greys, with some touches of yellow, sensitive, with subtle tonal modulations, create a feeling which arises partly from surprise and partly from recognition.
The birds - doves, seagulls - real or toys - are very much present in these works and, except for the model duck borrowed from a child, are flying. They dive in an atmosphere both real and unreal, inviting us to enter the open spaces existing beyond the image. The important role of birds could be significant here.
The bird, in the language of traditional symbols, is first of all a symbol of the  relationship between sky and earth. They also symbolise higher states of being. For an artist, especially if he is not conscious of this symbolic character, it could  represent spiritual renewal.
I must refer, finally, to the fragmentation of this world. lt does not provide us with entire figures of human beings or animals, only faces often not even whole, an ear, eyes, hands joining together which characterise a symbol of union. And many elements; from a garden to a dice, from sea waves crashing over a beach or flowers.
With all of these we become aware, of course, to his reference to our everyday world, broken down like the pieces of a jigsaw; but, at the same time, a different one, not viewed in reverse as in the world of Alice, .but one seen with more penetrating eyes, capable of appreciating its unexplored beauty, its limitless boundaries, its disturbing depths, discovered for us by Ramos-Poquí.
Josep Corredor Matheos, 2001

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El universo, tan virtual como real, de Ramos-Poquí

Introducción por Josep Corredor Matheos, 2001

Hay artistas precursores que, una vez se han impuesto sus propuestas, quedan  rezagados, agotadas sus fuentes de innovación, y son relativamente pocos aquellos que se mantienen abiertos y saben aprovechar Ios nuevos tiempos para lanzar nuevas iniciativas. Entre estos últimos se halla, sin duda, Guillem Ramos-Poquí.
Esta actitud es más difícil de adoptar actualmente, dada la situación general del arte. David Rodway ha hecho notar que, frente a Ios más "recientes pensadores post-estructuralistas, que consideran la interpretación del contenido artístico como algo inherentemente impreciso o indefinible (y) nos han hecho creer que se trato de un esfuerzo vano (...) el entusiasmo y el optimismo de Ramos-Poquí sobre Ias posibilidades del arte, cimentados por el estudio de la filosofía, hacen hoy de su obra, como lo fue al final de Ios años sesenta, una verdadero vanguardia crítica o contracultural' .
Este singular artista, dentro de una nueva vanguardia, necesita establecer una relación entre su arte, el arte, y el mundo real. Lo cierto es que siempre en su obra se ha dado la presencia de seres vivos, objetos y espacios que figuran o configuran
la escena cotidiana. Ya en 1968, como hizo notar Alexandre Cirici, "amplio la idea de objeto hasta construir espacios, environnements, habitaciones enteras, con uno habitación real, con Ios vestidos de la mujer dentro del armario, un comedor con Ios restos de la comida o el mismo lecho con el encima'. Y esta necesidad de romper Ios límites entre realidad y arte ha ido evolucionando a una mayor complejidad, al tiempo que el resultado era más claro y, en verdad, más sencillo.
Podríamos decir que lo que hace es crear juegos, en el mejor y más hondo de Ios sentidos. Recordemos las palabras de Nietzsche: "No conozco ningún otro modo de tratar tareas grandes que el juego: este es, como indicio de la grandeza, un presupuesto esencial'. Los objetos están tornados del mundo real con verdadero amor y reunidos en conjuntos en Ios cuales se mezclan la necesidad de crear nuevas evocaciones del mundo y un agudo sentido del humor. Diminutas figuras
humanas y de animales -pájaros, reptiles, monos-, muñecos y otros objetos: cajas, jaulas, lentes, carteles y otras imágenes, y, en fin, todo aquello que puede darnos pistas de lo que és o parece ser el universo de la vida cotidiana, ordenado de modo que puede interpretarse tanto de caos como de un mundo maravilloso como el vislumbrado por Alicia.
El inquieto espíritu de Ramos-Poquí le ha inducido a explorar el ámbito de la nueva tecnología. La informática es, hasta ahora, una técnica que no ha sido bien aprovechada por Ios artistas. Ramos-Poquí, sin embargo, ha visto en ella un
instrumento muy adecuado para sus propósitos. El ilimitado espacio que se abre al creador ha dado origen, en el caso de este artista, a numerosas imágenes que no acaban en sí mismas, sino que, conceptualmente, se abren de manera indefinida. En ellas, realidad e imaginación, vigilia y sueño, lo posible y lo que se presentaba como imposible, constituyen una sola entidad.
Puede hablarse, en cierto sentido, de herencia del surrealismo, y es cierto solo en parte, porque, en el fondo, y contra lo que la vanguardia ha pretendido hacemos creer, el arte contemporáneo lleva a sus últimas consecuencias el surgido con el Renacimiento. Las panorámicas imágenes de Ramos-Poquí no se asientan en un suelo sólido, sino que flotan , y todo resulta en lo inesperado e inclasificable.
Todos Ios elementos que aparecen en sus heterogéneas asociaciones están suspendidos en un espacio que no puede decirse que sea aéreo ni acuoso, sino onírico. lncluso, como para confirmárnoslo, Ios rostros de algunos personajes
femeninos tienen en ocasiones Ios ojos cerrados.
Contemplar estas imágenes nos sumerge en un universo extraño y no obstante familiar. Los tenues azules, rosas, verdes y grises, algunos toques amarillos, sensibles, sutilmente entonados, producen una emoción debida en parte a
la sorpresa y en parte al reconocimiento. Las aves - palomas, gaviotas, reales o de juguete- están muy presentes en estas obras. Y, salvo el pato prestado como modelo por algún niño, están volando. Planean en este aire tan real como irreal, subrayando lo que tiene de abierto a espacios que están fuera de la imagen e invitándonos a entrar. Esta importancia de las aves puede ser significativa. El
ave, en el lenguaje de Ios símbolos tradicionales, es en primer lugar símbolo de las relaciones entre cielo y tierra. Simbolizan también estados superiores del ser. Para un artista, sobre todo si no es consciente de este carácter simbólico, puede indicar sed de superación espiritual.
Hare notar, por último, la fragmentación de este mundo. No se nos dan figuras enteras de seres humanos y de animales: solo rostros, a veces ni siquiera enteros, una oreja, ojos, manes que se estrechan, algo que es también característico
como símbolo de unión. Y muchos elementos sueltos: desde parte de un jardín a un dado, desde unas olas marinas que rompen en una playa o unas flores.
Con todo ello se nos está aludiendo, claro está, al mundo nuestro de cada día, descompuesto como las piezas de un rompecabezas. Pero es, al mismo tiempo, otro diferente, no al revés como el de Alicia, sino visto con ojos más penetrantes,
capaces de apreciar su inexplorada belleza, sus ilimitados márgenes, su turbadora profundidad, descubierto para nosotros por Ramos-Poquí.

Josep Corredor-Matheos, 2001

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Guillem Ramos-Poquí's Photomontages

Introduction
by David Rodway, 2000

Is there art and life after post-modernism?  Can digital art learn  from the painter?  Is philosophy for artists what ornithology is for the birds?  Can art be a language?  Can it be a vehicle for ideas and narratives?  What are the perceptive and creative strategies for this? Is meaning or interpretation inherently "indeterminate"? And to what  extent "indeterminate"?  If so,  what are the implications? Does it mean we have no control over our destiny? 
These are some of the issues which are  investigated by Guillem Ramos-Poquí in the works illustrated in his web pages,  selected from several of his London shows during 1996-2000. 
Ramos-Poqui's work aims to identify and articulate hidden patterns and meanings in our social and cultural  environment and the collision between nature and the technologies of our post-modern condition.  The images use creative devices such as metaphor, and related tropes like metonymy and synecdoche, to express these themes whilst  commenting on the contradictions and potentials of our contemporary life and culture.
Ramos-Poquí's most recent photomontage work shows a shift in the geographical sources of its narrative and inspiration. During the 90's he embarked on a project predominantly dealing with a critique of technological and urban culture, the city, and the tensions which society imposes on the individual and our communities as a whole. Now, at the dawn of the new millennium, and as he did in the eighties, he looks back at nature for his inspiration. But far from only looking at nature from a purely romantic or utilitarian perspective, he treats' it as a platform through which to articulate visually his personal, metaphysical reflections and experience. Here nature takes the level of a metaphoric space in which the artist's fears about the passing of time, the shortcomings of memory and the inevitable cycles of life and decay are exposed. And as a poet, he looks at the images in nature as vessels of those timeless questions which belong to the dark mirror of the human condition.

(Text: David Rodway, 2000) ___________________________________________________________________________

 

PUBLICATION:
"G. Ramos-Poquí's Work: Paris-Barcelona-London 1965-2001"
Colville Place Publications, London, 2001.
Preface by J. Corredor-Matheos. Main text by D. Rodway (the English text has a Spanish translation at the back).
With 48 pages size A4. containing 84 colour reproductions, and 4 in black and white. ISBN 0-9536240-5-6

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RAMOS-POQUÍ'S PHOTOMONTAGES - SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

The Times
Higher Education Supplement: Multimedia: 14th March 1997: Pages II-III

"Digital print and the pursuit of a perfect image" by Guillem Ramos-Poquí (with 1 colour reproduciton)

CGI -Computer Generated Imaging Magazine (London N1 8DU UK): Vol 3 - Issue 1: January 1998
Page 16 "Environmentally friendly" (with 4 colour reproductions)

CGI -Computer Generated Imaging Magazine (London N1 8DU UK): Vol 3 - Issue 2: January 1998
Page 8 "News: Gaze the Maze..." (with 1 colour reproduction)

Computer Arts Magazine (Future Publishing, Bath BA1 2BW UK): Issue 17: April 1998
Page 108  Exposure: "Images from the Hermeneutical Maze" (with 4 colour reproductions)

The Daily Telegraph Newspaper: Connected Colour Supplement (London UK): Thurs 30th April 1998
Pages 1,10-11 "Caught in the Gallery Door" by Paul Fisher (with 1 colour reproduction and 1 in b&w)

Creative Technology Magazine (St John Patrick Publishers. London SE1 9AG): April 1998
Page 10  Folio (with 1 colour reproduction)

Art Review Magazine (London EC1A 9LB UK): May 1998
Pages 58-61 "Computers...The Last Frontier. Part I" by Brian Ashbee (with 3 colour reproductions)

Art Review Magazine (London EC1A 9LB UK): June 1998
Pages 48-49 "Computers...The Last Frontier. Part II" by Brian Ashbee (with 3 colour reproductions)

The Times Higher Education Supplement: Digital: 27th November 1998
Page 11 "The Pixel Problem" by Claire Neesham

The Times Higher Education Supplement: Digital: 8th October 1999
Page 14: "Beyond Words" (with one colour reproduction)

SAGE Publications:  Cover for "Social Work & Social Policy" catalogue. SAGE Publicatons, London 2000. (1 colour reproduction of work from 1999).

The Times Higher Education Supplement, 25 May 2001:
Page 12: "Poetry in Motion" (1 colour reproduction)

The Observer (Business/Cash Suplement), Sunday 27th January 2002. Pages: 12-13: "Pixels into pounds"/ "The Digital Masters" by John Windsor (1 colour reproduction across)

The Irish News, Sat 2 Oct 2004, page 49. Exhibition Review at the Cathalyst Art Gallery, Belfast . By Aisling MCrea (1 colour reproduction)

Artists in Britain Since 1945 (Vol 2: M to Z, pp 1312). David Buckman. Art Dictionaries Ltd, Bristol. 2006
ISBN: 10: 0 95326095X

"The Paint Box Era": Artists in the Digital Art Museum, Berlin (DAM) www.dam.org
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LINKS TO SERIES


Links to
Ramos-
Poquí's
Digital Works


2004:
      Exhibition Belfast (photomonages and assemblages)
2003:
     "Homage toKafka,Orwell, Marcuse" /
              "Memories and Revelations. Homage toTarkovsky"
               "Memories and Revelations"
2001:     
 The Magic Forest /
               Images of the Self (Open University Commission)

  2000:       "Recollections" / "Another Country" /
1999
:       "Philosophers"

1998:       "Invaders" /  
1997:      
 "Recording the Environment" "Images of Childhood/
1996:
 
     
 "A Window to Reality"


Guillem Ramos-Poquí's Exhibition at the Cathalyst Arts Gallery
(Belfast, Northern Ireland) in 2004, included a selection of his
Digital Photomontages and Assemblages

Link: Photomontages: Exhibitions

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