Carlos Leal: Fearless
Starting in June, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff will showcase the captivating work of Carlos Leal, a Spanish-Swiss photographer whose primary focus is the streets.
His photographs raise questions about the plight of impoverished individuals in the city of Los Angeles. They depict the shadowed spaces where the marginalized, the homeless, and all those excluded from prosperity exist, both within and outside society. These forgotten or rather disregarded individuals, who are undeniably visible, embody the exhibition’s title, Fearless. It symbolizes the decay of a country that prides itself on being a global superpower but is, in reality, plagued by deep-seated fear of its own existence.
The story behind the image that lends the exhibition its name is indicative of this sentiment. The smoke swirling in the sky originates from a homeless man setting fire to all his belongings on a busy highway. The dark plumes reach an enigmatic building adorned with the word ‘FEARLESS,’ which surprisingly turns out to be a church. Carlos Leal’s photographs reveal a disquieting reality that is often elusive to identify. Even the photograph of a hand against a dark wall is not innocuous; it captures the violent arrest of an African-American. In fact, Carlos Leal’s photographic approach mirrors that of rap, a genre he once represented in Switzerland. Complementing these images, other installations take a more radical approach. One series of photographs captures, hour by hour, a typical day of aimless wandering for a homeless person in Los Angeles. Another series compels us to closely examine a wheelchair-bound homeless individual whose face remains concealed under a blanket.
While Carlos Leal juxtaposes the everyday lives of the poor with those of the city’s inhabitants, there is also a broader disparity at play. It reflects the decline of an America confronted with the remnants of its past glory. Gas stations gleam like temples, while convenience stores, known for their round-the-clock service catering to consumerism, stand alongside the tents of the homeless. Through Carlos Leal’s lens, these iconic American symbols appear as antiquated relics, their fading neon lights evoking a poetic spatial dimension. Fearless marks Carlos Leal’s inaugural exhibition in our gallery, inviting visitors to explore his remarkable body of work throughout the summer. favourite subject. The photographs of this artist question the status of poor people in the city of Los Angeles. They show the places of obscurity where live the marginalized, the homeless, all those excluded from the market to prosperity, who are both inside and outside of society. Those who are forgotten, or rather ignored, but who are nevertheless very visible. The title of the exhibition, Fearless, is itself representative of this decay of a country that prides itself on being the world’s leading power but is, in reality, terribly afraid of itself. The story behind the image that gave the exhibition its name is symptomatic of this. The smoke in the sky is that created by a homeless man burning all his belongings in the middle of the highway. The black smoke has reached a strange building with the word ‘FEARLESS’ on it, which turns out to be a church. Carlos Leal’s photographs show a disturbing reality that is sometimes difficult to identify. The photograph of the hand on a dark wall is not a harmless one either, as it actually shows the violent arrest of an African-American. Actually, Carlos Leal’s photographic approach is close to rap, of which he was one of the representatives in Switzerland. Alongside these images, other installations are more radical. In the exhibition, a group of photographs captures, hour by hour, a typical day of wandering for a homeless person in Los Angeles. Another series of images pushes us to take a closer look at another homeless person sitting on a wheelchair, whose face is hidden under a blanket.
If Carlos Leal has photographed the contrasts between the daily life of the poor and the life of the inhabitants of the American city, the discrepancy is also that of an America on the decline which finds itself confronted with the vestiges of its past glory.
The gas station shines like a temple. The convenience stores, as they are sometimes called – open at all hours of the day and night to satisfy the consumerism of city-dwellers – stand next to the tents of homeless people. Under the lens of Carlos Leal, these American symbols appear as obsolete relics whose faded neon lights draw a spatial poetry. With Fearless, Carlos Leal signs his first exhibition at the Galerie Esther Woerdehoff gallery, all summer long.
About the Author
After having been the singer of the rap group Sens Unik, Carlos Leal began an acting career in Paris. Since then, he has received 4 acting awards including the Shooting Star at the Berlinale. In 2010, driven by the desire to propel his acting career to an international level, Carlos Leal left Europe to settle in Los Angeles, but socially, Carlos did not find his feet, too upset by the codes of an environment where the majority is only interested in one goal: success. Carlos Leal has always had a passion for photography and during his travels he started to take pictures to help him build the logbook of his fictional characters. Storytelling and minimalism are essential in his approach. For him, the importance of a photograph is where aesthetics and purpose meet and push us to question our social system. As an ex-rapper, he can’t help but have the eye of an urban journalist and the instinctive need to depict the Los Angeles he comes into contact with on a daily basis and which he sees with a completely different eye than postcards with silhouettes of palm trees cutting through the sky of a California sunset. The critical view he takes of his environment is not meant to be anti-American, that would be too easy coming from a child of old Europe. But how can we ignore the fact that the nation that constantly invents superheroes to deliver us from the forces of evil does not know how to look back on itself and realise that it is totally unaccountable for its failings and its losers ? In the megalopolis of exacerbated fantasies, Carlos scans the streets of the city for hours on end, looking for a visual poetry that will bring him closer to this American society from which he feels so distant. After showing his work in Switzerland and Los Angeles, he is exhibiting for the first time in Paris at the Galerie Esther Woerdehoff. Carlos lives between Europe and Los Angeles.
Carlos Leal: Fearless
08.06 – 29.07.23
Galerie Esther Woerdehoff – Paris- France
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