Alma Fine Art presents the work of Luis Paredes in a solo exhibition called 'A Place Away' that includes photographs from his two latest series: The Binary Forest (2010-2012) and Escapes and Stampedes (2012).

Paredes is known for his love of film photography, which was used for these series along with a restrained used of digital editing. The artist stated that he was interested in the Danish forest because of its history, its fantastic and mystic qualities, as well as the many faces it shows according to the time of day and the time of the year. This forest became his getaway from an industrialized world and his work is also homage to this kind of ecosystem that is threatened by modern day deforestation.

The Binary Forest (2010-2012) represents the artist's immersion in this environment, an experience through ... which he explored changes that are both physical and psychological. He used the forest as the subject and documented it through photography. He explained that the physical changes are caused by the different climatic conditions and the time of day which affects the amount and direction of the light. These conditions create various visual combinations that reflect or connect with the person's psychological state.

The concept of escaping is introduced in his latest series, Escapes and Stampedes (2012). According to Paredes, escaping can mean running away, going to a new place or finding a new identity, all means to detach from one's current reality. The forest, then, became a shelter to escape to and a space where all the changes are expressed through nature. The viewer can experience, in this exhibition, how the physical situation of the forest can modify the psychological human condition.

'A Place Away' presents each series on each room and in different formats. C-prints of our selection of The Binary Forest are displayed in Gallery Room A, while Escapes and Stampedes is displayed in Gallery Room B in a larger format and printed on canvases. This enhances, for the viewer, the feeling of movement in Room B while encouraging a more prolonged contemplation of the photographs in Room A.

Luis Paredes was born in San Salvador, El Salvador, and was interested in photography from a young age. After studying in England, Mexico, the U.S and Guatemala, he settled in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1989 where he works as an art and photography teacher. With more than twenty-five years of experience as a film photographer, his works have been exhibited in over twenty-seven countries around the world, including the participation in the Venice and São Paulo Biennials.