Essay Wilson Ortiz
written by: Romina Sangiovanni - OnArt Gallery Florence


Photography means writing with light.
The distinctive feature of the architectural photography by the artist Wilson Ortiz is that it reaches the conceptual heart of an architectural work through the vibrating light as it moves. Reality is taken through experimentation to a higher level where dreams flee reality through dynamism.
Wilson Ortiz is a photographer of Colombian origins. After having travelled and cherished the experiences of his journey to Europe and America, he has analysed the interaction between light, shadows, colours, movement and stillness through his shots, combining all these features into fully accomplished works. He currently resides in Munich where he is a photographer active in a number of sectors and fields. In recent years, he has specialised in portraits in which both the subject and architectures are contextualised and ‘space’ is an element that remains unaltered, thus becoming a touchstone for his work.
In architectural projects, Wilson Ortiz's photography aims at bringing the hidden essence of a building to the surface and exposing what the surrounding space can reveal beyond the visible and universal tangibility of reality. He takes a static image, as is that of an architectural work, and through his re-elaboration, his skill and his sensitivity he is able to bring it to life and give it a sense of movement and dynamism creating surreal architectures and spaces in which light and its movement through space prevail. What humans have erected with great rationality and mechanical skill is now seen from a different perspective. The eyes of the artist and his skill are able to shatter the stillness and monumentality of an architectural work through an in-depth study of light, shadow and glare.
In his photos, the static nature of architecture is set in motion by the eye of the artist, creating an aesthetic of speed typical of Futurism.
“It is the light of movement; space is light and motion." This is translated into living and dwelling in a space, into the ability to see light in its many forms and lines, thus giving his photos an abstract dimension that transcends objective representation.
It is a surreal abstraction in which light goes beyond its mere function of making vision possible. It allows us to look at, and focus on, the elsewhere of the lines, the suspended volumes and the apparent subjects that wander through space and are alive with colours that cry for movement. The fleeting lines bring harmony and the stable architectural presences shy away from sound functionality. All this is Wilson’s poetic photography.

It is the ability of looking at dynamism while transcending a predetermined law: “I shy away from architecture. Yet I experience it and I feel inside myself that there is motion even during the stillness of the night. When everything is silent, motion is a spectre that manifests itself and reveals.”

A light,
A dot,
A line,
An architecture,
A space,
A photo
Dynamically
Stirs,
Comes back to life,
And becomes something else.