In The Year 2010, A Looksee Back Via Washed Photography...

By PATRICK ALCATRAZ
Editor-In-Chief

NEW YORK, N.Y. - They are called "Retratos Pintados" by artisans who have been around since the dawning of the photograph. Essentially, they are photos washed-over with water color so that the end result is a somewhat brightened funereal look that both harkens back to a certain moment in the life of the models and also offers a however-mournful memory for familial posterity.

You can find them in most Hispanic homes.

Here, it is at the Yossi Milo Gallery on W. 25th Street, between 10th and 11th avenues, that a collection of these photos is drawing crowds, the exhibit highlighting an earlier time in Brazil. The names of the photographers and artisans who work-over the photos seem not as important as are the many unique retratos. In all, the small gallery known for such off-the-beaten-path work has more than 150 painted photographs, ranging from the one above to those of children and the elderly forever personified by the abuelos - grandparents.

As explained in a gallery brochure, the artisans "embellished the likeness" of their many subjects with layers of colorful oil washes. In doing that, the artisans covered "boring clothing," as well as greying hairstyles, male baldness, lack of make-up in women, etc., etc.

The gallery characterizes these particular photos as being common to a region in Brazil.

But it could be any of a hundred other regions south of the U.S. border. In Mexico, similarly "washed" photos can be found applied atop thin pieces of plaster that raises the image, giving it a very elementary 3-D perception. Indeed, there are many photography studios in today's Mexico that will accept faded photographs and render a worthy "Retrato Pintado."

As galleries go here, Yossi Milo's is not anywhere near the top of the heap. But it is known, we were told, as one popular with the avant-garde, with art patrons shopping for something out of the ordinary and tourists out to merely look around.

The exhibit continues through September 18th...

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