It is important for me to be guided by my own perception and not just passing the words to images… What interests me is the idea of discovery, of finding, of perceiving the mystery in the everyday.
Chema Madoz (Madrid, 1958) is one of the greatest Spanish artists with national and international recognition in contemporary photography. His career started in the 80’s when he held his first solo show at La Real Sociedad Fotográfica in Madrid (1983).
His first photographs combined theatrical seting in a surreal style with strong influence from René Magritte. From early 90’s Madoz begins to put aside the idea of chance and replacing it with the recreation of mental images. He stopped using external elements as natural light, nature and people in his photographs and begins to develop the idea of what objects mean to the viewer using careful illumination and a simple studio setting. His work is always black and white.
Since then, Madoz has exhibited in numerous galleries and institutions in Spain and abroad, such as Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Netherland Photomuseum in Rotterdam, Fundazione M. Marangoni in Florence; Museo de Bellas Artes of Caracas; Erarta Contemporary Museum in San Petersburgo; Fototeca Latinoamericana, FoLa in Buenos Aires; Centro Cultural Banco de Brasil e InstitutoCervantes in Rio de Janeiro; National Museum of Photography in Copenhague; Fundación Telefónica/Ministerio de Cultura in Madrid; Centro Galego de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago de Compostela, IVAM in Valencia and Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid.
In the early 90’s he began to receive recognition with awards and grants as the grant of Creación Artística of Fundación Cultural Banesto in 1993, first prizes as: Kodak Prize in 1991, PhotoEspaña. In 2019 he was awared with the prestigious Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes and Premio Aula de las Metáforas.
