Powerful. Mysterious. Dark. Surreal. Such words have been used to describe the artistic photographs of Guatemalan artist Luis González Palma.
A show titled "Metaphors of the Heart," featuring pieces spanning Palma's career, opens today at the Sheldon Museum of Art, 12th and R streets. The Sheldon also will host a lecture given by Palma today from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
The show is a sampling of about 20 works Palma did between 1989 to 2005. His earlier works, which were more portrait-like, dealt with the lives of the Mayan and Mestizo people of Guatemala. Some of Palma's later works reflect the social issues of relationships and tensions between men and women and within families, and they tend to be surreal and architectural.
"His work is ... very emotionally evoking and powerful," said Sharon Kennedy, curator of the Sheldon. "Students will connect immediately. I think that these photographs are riveting. They will just pull you in immediately to that person's soul."
All of Palma's works maintain a sepia-like color palette, which contributes to the consistently melancholy tone the photographs convey. Palma uses unusual techniques with his photographs, including incorporating collage methods, applying resin to the photos and using gold leaf as a background.
"He is more or less pushing the envelope as far as your traditional photography," Kennedy said.
Kennedy said Palma is not a documentary photographer. He plans and stages his photos in order to achieve the artistic ideas he has conceived for each one.
"I like to transform the objects and the space (photographed) …" Palma said. "(It's) like I am walking around in my dream and my idea. The experience for me is really important, and the photograph is the capture of that experience."
Raised in Guatemala, Palma moved to Argentina in 2001 where he now lives with his wife, 4-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. Palma has shown his work in museums and exhibitions around the world since 1989. He has won many awards and garnered recognition in the international art community.
"I think he is undoubtedly considered one of the greatest living Latin American Artists in any medium - painting, sculpture or photography," said Martin Weinstein, owner of the Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis. The Weinstein Gallery has some of Palma's works on display.
The Sheldon has one work by Palma in its permanent collection and was able to borrow more pieces from other galleries and from private collections in Lincoln to create the show.
Palma said he believes we, as people living in the modern era, have a lot of images we deal with, and he, as an artist, doesn't want to just add more to what we already have.
"The images I want to add have to be essential for me," he said.
johnnahjersman@dailynebraskan.com
