pepe cañabate

Level Luxury observes the gallery as a machine for producing value. Artworks, reflections, signage and display elements overlap and interfere, shifting attention from the object itself to the apparatus that legitimizes it. A controlled imperfection — reflections, blur, obstructions — works as a critical tool. What we see is never the work. What we see is the system around it

ITS is a photographic series that approaches the image as process and surface, where matter, color, and gesture interact without direct reference. The photographs do not describe; they invite an open, contemplative visual experience, where meaning emerges through perception rather than narration.

YELLOW emerges from night walks where yellow garbage bags, under artificial light, reveal traces of a consumption that still defines our society. Observed as strange compositions—fragments of what was once useful—plastic becomes a pictorial surface. Transparent and ordinary, waste is transformed into image, suspended between attraction and discomfort.

In Derivas, the focus is not on what is photographed, but on the act of looking. Each image stands on its own, while the project takes shape through subtle relationships between them. When the value of an image depends on its subject, photography is no longer enough. For this reason, Derivas does not aim to be spectacular. It is deliberately restrained, quiet, and provisional. A drift, rather than a destination.

In Obsidian Leaves, the fragile surface of nature shifts into mineral matter. Stripped of color, the leaves become dense, almost geological forms—traces of time, pressure, and decay. The photographic gaze penetrates the organic to reveal the sculptural, transforming light and shadow into matter, as if each leaf were carved rather than grown.

WRONG is a visual exploration of the banal and the inappropriate turned into aesthetic matter. Found objects, discordant scenes, and everyday gestures appear out of place, stripped of their original function to challenge notions of good taste, value, and relevance. The series looks with irony and clarity at what is usually discarded or overlooked, revealing its potential as both image and cultural sign.

TRASTUS is a photographic drift through the invisible geography of what we discard. Domestic objects—chairs, appliances, toys, furniture—removed from their original use appear isolated in the urban night. Shot in darkness with deliberate contrast and grain, these anonymous remains acquire a silent presence, charged with memory and quiet melancholy. The series reflects on consumption, abandonment, and the uneasy beauty that emerges when things cease to be useful.

TITÁN is a series that began in 2013, at a moment when the digital revolution had diminished my interest in photography. Working with analogue cameras and darkroom printing—often using pinhole techniques—I sought to reconnect with a slower, more demanding photographic practice. The process required time, planning, and patience, frequently leading to failure before reaching a result. This discipline redefined my relationship with the image and restored the inspiration I was searching for.

Minimal Depth brings together portraits of creatives —painters, photographers, writers, musicians, and others— captured with minimal depth of field. Extreme proximity and reduced focus concentrate the gaze on what is essential, turning the face into a territory of presence. The frontal framing, stripped of artifice, intensifies expression and reveals both vulnerability and inner strength in each subject.

Becoming Studios explores the intimate dialogue between creators and the spaces where their work begins to take shape. Each diptych juxtaposes the quiet presence of the artist —black-and-white portraits distilled to gesture and gaze— with a wide, almost cartographic vision of the studio, that reveals traces, chaos, and order. The series frames the studio as a territory in constant transformation, where matter, time, and thought accumulate and where creative identity unfolds layer by layer.

Nightpol — After the Last Shift In darkness, industrial zones lose their productive function and reveal a different identity. Anonymous façades, unlit signs and idle machines gain a silent, almost theatrical presence. Artificial light traces geometries and textures unnoticed by day, turning utilitarian spaces into landscapes filled with mystery and stillness.