From 02 to 11 December 2022 the exhibition "Portugalska Arhitektura Fernando Guerra" can be visited at IDECAF HCMC. The exhibition displays a selection of Portuguese architecture photos by Fernando Guerra, curated by Emanuel Barbosa.
Fernando Guerra has been a pioneer in the way architecture is photographed and promoted. Twelve years ago, he opened studio FG+SG together with his brother. Today, they are responsible for the huge jump on the diffusion of Portuguese contemporary architecture in the last years.
Taken from his interview with Emanuel Barbosa, Fernando answered when asked what is the connection between photography and architecture to him:
"Photography is my life. I have the sensation that I work in my photography all the hours of the day that I'm awake. Travel photography, new contents for our website, working in new books or other projects - all connected to photography. I'm often asked if I don't miss making architecture - Today, more than ever, I don't. There are many ways of making architecture, of living it with passion. Today I communicate architecture and I feel happy with that. In my work there are very few middlemen between what I want to do and what I will have ready in few weeks. That is priceless. In architecture, timings are very different, we always speak about years - not days, I specially like that the result of a work depends more of me than of external factors that I don't control, and in the architecture world there are many problems that have nothing to do with being creative.
The best images, those that I love the most, are products of chance and not of a careful planning. You just need to be ready to catch the moment when it arrives. It happens, and for many things to happen during a day on the building you need to see it functioning. This gives it a purpose, a meaning. It creates rhythms and the photos that I'm interested in.
My work is based on the photos that take advantage of people passing, of what is happening on that street, on that house. This makes the image richer by adding another layer of information. In traditional architecture photography, the "instant drawing" was never very important and it was always dependent on factors external to the building that people were making pictures of. People passing, a car that stops in the right place, the perfect cloud, are elements that I always like to ad to my photography. They ad scale, but more than that, they give it meaning and make a bridge to my personal work that always looked for those elements."
CCIPV Chairman and Co-founder of S+A Architects Sergio D. Silva also presented at the opening ceremony of the exhibition. He believes that the event, while artistic on its own, also a great opportunity to showcase fine Portuguese works to Vietnamese audience.
Curious on the art ? The exhibition will be on display daily from 7:30 AM to 8:30 PM at IDECAF HCMC
Source: CCIPV / VNPLUS