Iñaki Bonillas The Projectionist

Stockholm, September 29, 2022 November 04, 2022

The pandemic and the subsequent confinement put me, like many other artists, in the position of having to work only with what we had at hand in the studio. For many years I have worked with a photographic archive inherited from my grandfather. This time I decided to create a whole new archive, made entirely of film stills. That is, I spent most of the time watching movies - mostly those classic films one never has the time to watch, until now. Not as any regular spectator but as a careful archeologist: studying in detail, trying to find casual intersections between photography (my main medium) and cinema. I then undertook a search for specific images that fall into four categories: close-ups of people’s eyes; scenes of film projection in films; instants where a door closes into a very dark room, so that a thin strip of light falls on the floor; and finally those instants where the camera lens catches a bright light, producing an illuminated artifact that intrudes into the scene. This resulted in four new series that Galerie Nordenhake presents here for the first time.
– Iñaki Bonillas

Iñaki Bonillas was born in Mexico City in 1981, where he currently lives and works. Bonillas’s work has been included in significant exhibitions in institutions including MoMA, New York (2020); MARCO, Monterrey and ESPAC, Mexico City (both 2019); Cantor Arts Center, Stanford and Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona and Museum of Photographic Art, San Di- ego (all 2018); Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow (2015); Jumex Museum, Mexico City (2013), Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (2012); Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles and Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (both 2011); MUSAC, León (2010); Bard College, New York and Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel and Malmö Konsthall, Malmö (all 2009); Claremont Museum of Art, California (2007); The Power Plant, Toronto (2003) and HKW, Berlin (2002). Significant solo presentations include Casa Luis Barragán, Mexico City (2016); La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona (2012); MAM, Mexico City (2009); Matadero, Madrid (2007); Mies van Der Rohe Pavilion, Barcelona (2005) and MUHKA, Antwerp (2003). He participated in the São Paulo Biennial in 2012, Venice Biennial in 2003, the Prague Biennial in 2005.

Installation view
Los ojos de Sol, 2022, set of 15 Photogravure on cotton paper (Hahnemühle, 350 gr.), 37 x 37 cm
Ray, 2022, set of 9 pigmented prints on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gr), 18.5 x 30 cm each, 19.5 x 31 cm each framed
Installation view
Filos [“Edges”], 2022, set of 6 pigmented prints with carbon inks on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gr), 30 x 41 cm each, 31 x 42 cm each framed
Filos [“Edges”], 2022, detail
Filos [“Edges”], 2022, detail
Installation view
Falling Light 6, 2022, framed pigmented print on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gr), 16 x 154 cm framed
Installation view
Falling Light 3, 2022, framed pigmented print on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gr), 16 x 140.5 cm framed
Falling Light 5, 2022, framed pigmented print on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gr), 16 x 130 cm framed
Installation view
Falling Light 2, 2022, framed pigmented print on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gr), 16 x 120.5 cm framed
Falling Light 1, 2022, framed pigmented print on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gr), 16 x 137.5 cm framed
Installation view
Falling Light 4, 2022, framed pigmented print on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gr), 16 x 167 cm framed
Installation view
Installation view
Magic Lantern, 2016, set of 4 pigmented prints on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 305 g), 28 x 34 cm each framed
Magic Lantern, 2016, set of 3 pigmented prints on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 305 g), 28 x 34 cm each framed
Magic Lantern, 2016, set of 7 pigmented prints on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 305 g), 28 x 34 cm each framed
Magic Lantern, 2016, set of 6 pigmented prints on cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 305 g), 28 x 34 cm each framed