Biography
Pep Ventosa was born in Vilafranca del Penedès (Barcelona), Spain. His work has appeared in 7x7 Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Photographer’s Forum Magazine’s 2004 Best of Photography Annual, The New York Times bestseller American 24/7, Digital Collage and Painting (Focal Press), El Punt (Catalunya, Spain), La Fura (Vilafranca/ Barcelona), El 3 de Vuit (Penedès, Spain), AVUI (Catalunya, Spain) and Gara (Basque Country, Spain). His fragmented photographic works have been jury selected for special exhibitions by the Pritzker Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art – Chicago; a curator at New York’s Guggenheim Museum; and the Editor-in-Chief of Artweek. He is also in the permanent collection of the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento). Pep was awarded 1st Prize at the 2006 National Photo Competition sponsored by the Coastal Arts League & Museum (Half Moon Bay, California); 3rd Prize at the 11th Premi Nadal Cava, XVII Firart Penedés (Vilafranca/Barcelona); and Finalist in the Camino de Hierro International Photography Competition juried by the Royal Society Photographic of Madrid. He tries to communicate to viewers “…the physical reality of the way we see. When you look at a bicycle, your eyes digest it in pieces – the chain, the bell, spokes of the wheel, different colors, and shapes. Then the brain puzzles the pieces together to build the whole.” Pep tries to recreate that with photography by shooting scenes and objects in fragments, then reconstructing and toying with them. The result is an image that highlights the individuality of each of the pieces, and in some mysterious way, maybe becomes something nearer to the way we really see. Recent awards include Finalist, Photographer’s Forum Magazine’s 24th Annual Spring Photography Competition, 2004, and selected for inclusion in The New York Times bestseller photography book, America 24/7, 2003
