Photogallery impressarios Liz & Bob McKay discovered José Castillo Pazos last May at their alma mater, Brookdale Community College, where Castillo was a student. They were awed by his work.
Starting Friday night, Castillo an native Ecudoran now living in Lincroft will have his first solo exhibition.
“Each fiber print, skillfully created in the darkroom, is, like a painting, a one-of-a-kind record of a momentary vision; one that will never be reproduced because the artist prefers moving forward with his work to resting in the past,” the McKays say in an announcement for the show.
“Weltschmerz,” the show’s title, is German for “world-weariness.” According to Wikipedia, it was coined by author Jean Paul, and “denotes the kind of feeling experienced by someone who understands that the physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind.”
The pieces we’ve seen so far capture a breathtaking place somewhere between the concrete world and kinetic dreams. At the same time, they conjure up a yearning for another time, both past and future at once.
This looks like another must-see show by the wife-and-husband McKays of Monmouth Street, and a terrific debut by Castillo, an artist of compelling vision.
