ART PHOTOGRAPHY
Daniel Agra Sánchez (Terrassa – Barcelona, August 30, 1969), is a self-taught Spanish artist of abstract photography and fine art.
In the artistic field his work is defined as subjective, experimental and conceptual expressionist visual poetry, with a profound imaginative capacity and endowed with strong intuition. Defined by a resounding individual and experimental personal mark that allows him to mentally project a great deal of his compositions with a language and style full of symbolism.
The defined perception and emotional depth of his work should be highlighted reflecting his interest in the subconscious, abandoned methods, dialogues and conventional and traditional photographic narratives which transcend their state to be symbolised in a deep analysis, to be recreated into a poetic frontier between the material and the spiritual, between man and the environments he inhabits, distinctive elements that emphasise the communicative character in his allegorical symbology and relative to the inner world, raising it to levels of evocative spirituality in transcendental and vindictive themes, on the existential importance of the individual in his creative freedom, a personal form of contemporary expression that does not bow to the established norms, an archetype through a vocabulary with meticulously selected images and iconographies.
Over time, his works have achieved wide appreciation, recognition and international dissemination. The more than 50 awards and international honour mentions of photography that he has achieved during his career should be emphasised, he has shown his work and participated in exhibitions across various countries, as well as published in assorted media and international art guides. His work can be found in national and international museums, foundations and private art and photography collections.
Quotes
During the creative process, which aims to find a personal voice, thoughts and ideas emerge that lead me to conclusions which corroborate the visual approach. These fragments, presented here in the form of texts, narratives, or aphorisms, complement and reinforce that transcendence and personal meaning.
“Our essence and our biology, from the microscopic to the vast magnitude of the stars, are interconnected with creativity and emotions. We are a portion, a fractal, a sprout of the universe and of creation. We are pure energy, that is why the role of the artist is to pose questions, not to answer them, because it is not about what we see it’s about what we help others see.”
“To know by heart. Nobody becomes better simply by knowingand permanently memorising data, because the real goal is to teach how to thinkto encourage doubt, to inspire questions. Answers are not the truth, they seeka truth that will always be relative. Creative and curious people always havenew questions that, on the other hand, have been repeated since thedays of the greek philosophers: when, where, what, who, and why. Let us usememory only to recall the questions we asked as children… ¿what’s behind themirror?… that is the source that springs from the oasis of knowledge.”
“Creativity is an act of boldness and rebelliousness a creator of new language, a motivation and a path toward new questions, it pushes us toward greater revelations in wisdom and philosophy, connecting us with emotions, a disobedience to the established order and orthodox opinion on the road to progress.”
“Art is not about reflecting beauty or about something intellectual that must be explained to a lucky “initiated”, art is about revealing, through introspection, the essence of reality a poetic and tangible manifesto that follows an unconventional and emotional path, emerging from the unexpected corners of existence.”
“We live in a society that educates us to fear being different, to fear thinking differently, something we must avoid in order to belong, with the only argument being the strength of the collective, rewarding imitation, silent obedience, and mimicry. Without questioning, we only contribute to the creation of a sick society. To mimic in order to belong and fit in is to erase freedom it is to renounce oneself. Difference is the valuable force that makes us authentic, creative, and real, helping to create a healthy, strong, and vital society.”
“Abstraction is the first step in activating imagination and intuition, extracting essence in its most emotionally pure form, without dogma an anarchic, rebellious, sensitive, and unconventional replica, through our eyes, we make visible a reality of the world that we cannot describe in any other way.”
“Naturalness is a calm rebellion without certainties that generates an unmatched magnetism which dazzles. People who dare to be normal and authentic without poses, filters, or masks are not trapped in an archaic rigidity of fixed and inflexible ideas, they accept and encourage change, constantly reinventing themselves in tune with life’s evolutionary movements, they are not only open to learning, but also show their methodology, understanding, and reasoning through questioning thereby avoiding the constant dogmatic indoctrination that only leads to stagnation, they become a unique universe unto themselves.”
“From its very beginnings, photography has been a multidisciplinary and multicultural art form that connects the author’s dialogue with a vision of personal visual and narrative elements. Just as there are countless cultures and languages, there are countless photographic languages and visual cultures. To disregard and ignore sensitivity with the sole aim of shaping obedient, purely rational minds devoid of empathy and questioning is to stigmatize, erase, and atrophy emotional understanding preventing the development of free and independent souls who understand, cultivate, and preserve the diversity of other languages and visual cultures without needing to share their identity.”
“Essence and beauty hold the virtuosity of abstract forms, a fluid and allegorical subtlety created by light, allowing us to see and express that which is sometimes unexplainable through conventional photographic language, this unleashes creativity, exploration, and progress a refuge of intelligence and the generating principle for the flourishing of individuals, society, and the world all aligned and bound to a conformist visual and intellectual tradition.”
“The artistic quality is the path through which experimental and visionary practice flows, the seed of new sensitive forms and languages that emerge from imagination, it unveils hidden truths and complex themes that invoke and embody creative freedom through diverse perspectives, questioning and standing in opposition to so called contemporary photography, an amalgam of images and narratives, all equally saturated, carrying the same slogans, arguments, and discourses rendered empty by their synonymous and dogmatic manner of expression.”