RGR celebrates the 100th anniversary of Surrealism with its participation in two sections of Paris Photo 2024. In the gallery’s Main Sector, the work of Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo —and his role on Surrealism— is presented vis a vis Carlos Cruz-Diez’s research on analog photography. This section showcases a collection of Cruz-Diez’s vintage photographs in black and white from the 50s, and an edition of Chris Marker’s Petite Planète travel guide on Venezuela, which includes images by Cruz-Diez on its inside pages. RGR’s booth also presents a contemporary selection of photocollages and color C-prints inspired by Surrealism, which features Karina Aguilera Skvirsky’s identity themed collages, Patrick Hamilton’s Atacama series on the Chilean desert landscape, Francisco Muñoz’s black and white photocollages of domestic interiors inhabited by humanoid figures, and Diego Perez’s C-prints on poetic interventions in natural environments.
In the gallery’s Voices Sector, RGR and the Archivo Manuel Álvarez Bravo present a limited edition of the series La buena fama durmiendo, by Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo. The series was originally produced in 1939, as part of an invitation from Breton to Álvarez Bravo to participate in the International Exhibition of Surrealism that took place in Mexico in 1940.
Fifteen numbered folders have been edited, each containing six photographs printed in gelatin silver on 24 x 30.5 cm semi-matte baryta Bergger paper, and a booklet with a text by Clémet Chéroux about this edition. The printing was made at Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s original lab by José Ángel Rodríguez —the master’s trusted printer—, thus preserving the care and traditional techniques of the Mexican photographer.