David Jiménez

1970, Spanish, born in Seville, Spain
Nominee - Prix Elysée 2017

Spanish photographer David Jiménez graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid in 1993. Following his studies he continued to train as a photographer through workshops with renowned international artists. His visual proposal brings us up close to the mystery encompassing the everyday, the invisible relationships that operate secretly in that which we find familiar.

His works, in the form of books, exhibits and audiovisual screenings, have been shown in numerous cities in Spain and also abroad, in venues including the Nederlands Foto Instituut of Rotterdam, Les Rencontres of Arles, the University of Staffordshire, the Seoul Photo Festival, the National Library of Colombia in Bogotá, and the Changjiang International Photography and Video Biennale in China.

David Jiménez won the award for Best New Photographer at PHotoEspaña 99 and the Arts Award of the city of Madrid in 2008. To date, he has published five monographic books, including Infinito (2000), as well as the recently published Versus (2014).

His work is part of numerous public and private collections in Spain, such as Fundación MAPFRE, the MACUF Contemporary Art Museum, and the DKV Art Collection. He regularly delivers workshops and lectures in Spain and other countries on the creative process in photography.

Project

Omen

David Jiménez photographic project Omen searches to play with the limits of our perception. With the support of the Prix Elysée Jiménez will work toward the completion of this ambitious visual exploration which aspires to transcend time, space and culture to a poetic visual abstraction closer to higher meaning.

“Between the real and the imaginary a vast territory opens up, once any faith in a stable, objective reality in our time is abandoned.” The project proposed by David Jiménez for the Prix Elysée is placed within some quite specific geographical coordinates, but its exact location is not relevant. The aim is to transcend that particular physical space and recreate a fictional territory defined by abstract borders.

All my work has always been based on the intuition that concealed within what we call reality is a network of complex relationships beyond rational thought. This project has gestated over a long period, in parallel with other work. Involuntarily, I found myself returning time and again to that space, and at some point I understood that what deeply interested me were not cultural or social aspects, but rather the behavior of certain planes of reality closer to the realm of the oneiric. Although these planes feature persons, animals, spaces, objects and lights, the energy they set in motion belongs to none of them individually but rather to what connects them all. Moving along the edges of abstraction, I have gradually eliminated the precise amount of narrative and descriptive elements, so that only what is essential to the work remains.”