Mario Pacheco Photo Exhibition December 2014 in Madrid

 

A photo exhibition by photographer and music producer Mario Pacheco is now open to the public throughout December 2014 at El Rincón located at Calle del Espíritu Santo 26 in Madrid’s Malasaña neighborhood. The exhibit hours are 10:00 a 24:00h (10:00 am to 12 midnight).

Mario Pacheco (Madrid 1950-2010) was born in a family connected to art and photography for generations. His grandfather, Juan Pacheco “Vandel”, was initially a painter and photographer and later a filmmaker. He had a photography studio in the Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square. Mario Pacheco’s father, Mario, and his uncles Rafael and Godofredo worked in the fledgling Spanish film industry as camera operators and cinematographers.

From his father, Mario learned photography and it served as a vehicle to reach a wider cultural world than was found in Spain during the dictatorship. As a vocational photographer, Mario traveled to London. He was only 17 years old and started working professionally for record companies and music magazines.

He spent some time in London, taking pictures of actors and pop singers, selling them to Spanish magazines as well as collaborating on several short films. During his trips to Great Britain, Mario attended historical moments like Jimi Hendrix’ concert on the Isle of Wight (1970).

Mario continued his travels, spending time in London, Tangiers, and Formentera. He kept taking photos and worked as a cultural agitator. Back in Madrid he organized events like performances by Iván Zulueta, progressive music concerts in university settings and took portrait photos of the legendary Camarón de la Isla during the La leyenda del tiempo sessions. During that time he worked with a Barcelona-based label called Edigsa that produced singer-songwriter albums by Pau Riba, Jaume Sisa, Joan Manuel Serrat, and La Trinca and progressive music albums by Toti Soler, Jordi Sabatés, la Orquesta Mirasol, la Companyia Eléctrica Dharma, Iceberg, Blay Tritono, and Secta Sónica.

 

 

In 1982, Mario founded, along with his wife Cucha Salazar, a record company called Nuevos Medios. This trailblazing label with a beautiful logo made by Joan Miró was launched to produce a precious cargo of music: original Spanish pop, singer-songwriter albums with pedigree, Spain’s best emerging jazz soloists and something even more sensational, a label called Jovenes flamencos (Young Flamencos) that provided an outlet for consecrated stars along with the young upcoming flamenco scene.

 

 

Since the dawn of Madrid’s famed movida (late 1970s early 1980s artistic and socio-cultural movement), Nuevos Medios was a label with an eclectic and cosmopolitan orientation that released stellar artists that worked with his friends Joe Boyd (Hannibal Records), Manfred Eicher (ECM) and Tony Wilson (Factory). Thus, Nuevos medios distributed, released or produced eclectic music with an open mindset: Keith Jarret, New Order, The Smiths, Credence Clearwater Revival, Frank Zappa, Nick Drake, Toyland, La Mode, Vainica Doble, Jorge Pardo, Carles Benavent, Pepe Habichuela, Enrique Morente, Martirio, Ketama, Miguel Poveda, Las Migas, Beny Moré, Bola de Nieve, Chabuca Granda, Toto la Momposina, Toumani Diabate … Many of the elegant and conceptual covers of the record label featured photographs of artists portrayed by Mario.

In the words of Pablo P. Minguez (magazine Nueva Lente, 1974), “Mario is one of those photographers who could be found in the morning portraying a famous politician, in the afternoon doing a report in an art gallery, and at night with his cameras outspread in the dressing room of any movie or theater artist. ”

This exhibition is a small sample of Mario Pacheco’s work as a photographer and shows mainly portraits that are direct, blunt and without any artifice. Images in black and white that respond faithfully to their own sense of image: lack of premeditated artistic intention and always playing with the wow factor, in response to the sophisticated or so-called “psychological” photography. They are, above all, a desire to demystify. Photos that seek the truth of men and things.