All Things Being Equal
Hugo Zelada-Romero | Boardroom Gallery
My artworks are hybrids of photography, painting and digital art. Most of my artworks are
based originally on photographs that I’ve made using either digital or analog film cameras.
Others are made from family photos or using found images. I work in lens-based media.
I make my blue paintings using the cyanotype printing process that dates from the
mid-1800’s, and I also use modern day processes to make images in a variety of other
colors. These are light sensitive emulsions that I apply to canvas. I make photographic
negatives and then expose the canvas to sunlight and then develop those with water or
photochemistry. These canvas artworks are very hands on. My other work is made using
machines, like laser cutters or printers. Everything I make is rooted in digital and then I
expand from there into whatever material I think is best.
I’m inspired to make this work from all sorts of places, I draw inspiration from real life, I’m
fascinated by experiences that seem overwhelming that are spiritual or paranormal in
nature. I find inspiration in the landscape and in places that seem weird or eerie. Some of
these artworks are very personal, and the titles are clues as to what the mood or content
is. The title of my exhibition refers to the way I think about these different mediums, when I
have an idea I like to have options for what the final form will be. To me all these different
ways of making art are equal although the different groupings will change how a viewer
might interpret the meaning. The title also refers to the way all subjects have the same
degree of being-ness as any other object. An idea or experience is just as real as a
painting or a sculpture. Everything we feel, see or experience has the ability to affect
anything else. We make meaning through these connections between things.
In grouping the artwork together I’m creating a dialogue between the work. I want the
viewer to make connections between these immense landscapes and how we relate to it
through scale and awe. The way the gravitational forces of the moon affect the tides and
even people. Everything from complicated carbon atoms only found in space to the
structure of a geodesic dome house, contains parallels in form. The infinitesimal and the
immense carry equal weight. My work engages subjects that are beyond belief – from the
paranormal UFO sighting to dreamlike family events. These incomprehensible experiences
demonstrate gaps in our perception of reality, and I’m interested in how photography is
used as evidence of truth.
Click to view Hugo's work and shop the exhibit online!
