03 / Cristina Stolhe
el chico, Madrid
But still, life
September 2022, Supper Club
In a strictly objective way, photography is perhaps the most prolific medium of our time, but beyond that, what we have found in Stolhe's work is the ability to trace back to the importance of the individual as part of a whole.
Probably, and with good reason, these identifications will occur in a more immediate way in viewers of her generation or those closest to her, and this is also what prompts us to present this exhibition. Talking about Cristina's work is both easy and complex: easy because her work is brutally immediate, complex because even after assimilating her practice, it is still not easy to understand her work. Once again, we feel very comfortable comparing art with sorcery. Cristina is the one who conjures up through her photographs that invisible mystique that, like a mirror, reminds us that although we are individuals, we are not the same, but we will always be part of the same life common to all.
Different still lifes, but still, life.
Different still lifes, but still, life.
The installation
The gallery space transformed around the table to generate dynamics usually found in bars, typical restaurants and Galician households. Cristina’s point of view on ordinary situations inspired us to look at typical bar attire with new eyes. Metallic napkin holders became candle holders, paper tablecloths started to reveal details of life captured by the photographer once life started to happen on top.
A small revealing of something deeper behind everyday objects.
The menu
Familiar ingredients and preparations intertwined with reinterpretations of traditional recipes. A two meter long empanada welcomed the guests. Keeping the Galician roots and adapting spanish bar classics, the menu included classics like tortilla de patatas and salpicón.
Artist’s statement
Stolhe holds a degree in Art History from the University of Santiago de Compostela. Very early in her career, her interests took her outside the framework of academic research and cultural management, focusing on the photography, which has served her as an expressive channel from a very early age. Her language as a photographer does not have a defined framework, but is shaped by her personal needs. In 2016-2017 she published the first materialisation of her research as an artistic photographer in the form of a book. Presented as a visual torrent, it’s a reflection of a certain anxiety to understand what surrounds her through the camera. The book is also an ode to the immediate medium of the mobile phone camera, a device that Stolhe uses in her own work in the same hierarchy as any other.
Menu
Welcome: Galician Grelos (chard) Empanada, fruit infused yayos.
Starters:Mushroom tortillita with patatas revolconas
and egg yolk. Paired with Ú, Julia Bernet (Xarel·lo).
Tortilla de patatas infused with rosemary. Paired with Dandelion, Nanclares y Prieto (Albariño).
Mains: Salpicón of white beans, verdinas (green beans from Asturias) and lupins. Paired with Tragolargo orange, Casa Balaguer.
Shallot stuffed with chestnut cream, vegetable sauce and fried sage. Paired with Pinot Noir, Cycles Gladiator.
Dessert: Grapes and plums cooked in vermouth, burnt. Coffee liqueur butter and fried peanuts. Paired with Coteaux du Layon, Domaine du Petit Clocher.
Photos by Paz Vallejo, Cristina Stolhe.
Welcome: Galician Grelos (chard) Empanada, fruit infused yayos.
Starters:Mushroom tortillita with patatas revolconas
and egg yolk. Paired with Ú, Julia Bernet (Xarel·lo).
Tortilla de patatas infused with rosemary. Paired with Dandelion, Nanclares y Prieto (Albariño).
Mains: Salpicón of white beans, verdinas (green beans from Asturias) and lupins. Paired with Tragolargo orange, Casa Balaguer.
Shallot stuffed with chestnut cream, vegetable sauce and fried sage. Paired with Pinot Noir, Cycles Gladiator.
Dessert: Grapes and plums cooked in vermouth, burnt. Coffee liqueur butter and fried peanuts. Paired with Coteaux du Layon, Domaine du Petit Clocher.
Photos by Paz Vallejo, Cristina Stolhe.
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