The ENAIRE Foundation premieres Fantasías en El Prado, the latest work by Alberto García-Alix, the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award winner, at the Naves de Gamazo in Santander

Today, at the Naves de Gamazo in Santander, the ENAIRE Foundation premiered Fantasías en el Prado, the result of four years of work (2018-2021), during which photographer Alberto García-Alix was able to create his own imaginary based on the works on display at the Prado Museum, using the laborious technique of multiple exposures on analogue film.

Alberto García-Alix (León, 1956), photographer, audiovisual creator, writer and editor won the ENAIRE Foundation 2022 Photography Achievement Award. This recognition is on top of the National Photography Award (1999), the PHotoESPAÑA Prize (2012), the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts (2019), and other awards he has received throughout his career.

Alberto García-Alix builds a photographic imaginary inspired by the main works in the Prado Museum

This honorary distinction, presented by the ENAIRE Foundation and worth 17,000 euros, recognises the creative maturity and the four decades that the artist has spent behind the camera. Over the years, García-Alix's look and photography have evolved and gained in complexity, depth, and introspection. His austere work, in which black and white photography predominates, has transcended borders and established him as one of the best portrait artists, photographers and artists on the Spanish and international art scene.

As part of the programme of exhibits of ENAIRE Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award winners, Fantasías en el Prado by Alberto García-Alix is now on display at the Naves de Gamazo in Santander, and is part of the PHotoESPAÑA Santander 2023 programme.

The first part of this exhibit features a "look" section that pays tribute to García-Alix through his self-portraits, including two items near and dear to the artist's heart: the vest and camera he used while on different journeys throughout his life. This inside look at his personal "treasures" will be on display until 24 September.

The journey continues through the Fantasías en el Prado project, where "each painting is its own world. And as such, I took it to invent and build a new one", admits the photographer. With his gaze, his imagination, the superposition of images, the focus, the blur, a small torch and the vibration of his camera as his only tools, Alberto García-Alix has repainted some of the masterpieces in the Prado, creating phantasmagories, imbuing mystery, tension and movement into paintings, and giving flesh and breath to sculptures.

The exhibit brings together more than 40 analogue photographs, developed using the gelatin dry plate process

The spark for this project came about in 2017 when the Friends of the Prado Museum Foundation commissioned two photos to commemorate the museum's bicentennial. "They tasked twelve photographers with offering our own interpretation, a look in intimate visual communication with the Prado", says García-Alix. "Once the work was finished", he added, "I was still fascinated by the photographic dialogue I found in many of the works and I decided to continue, on my own and with the museum's permission, my photographic hunt through the Prado".

On the creative process of the Fantasías en el Prado series, García-Alix says he has looked at history, politics and art in communication: "I appropriated time, light and brushstrokes. I took them from their authors. Goya's to repaint his semi-buried dog, Velázquez's to reimagine Las Meninas, I watched over the Gioconda under a terrorist stain of white paint, I seized Rubens' frenzy to capture what he didn't dare paint in his time, and I drew myself in the mask of a beast with help from Rosa Bonheur... Nothing can be measured, or compared with the emotion that I felt when working with the paintings".

The exhibit brings together 35 analogue photos that take viewers on a personal tour of the Prado's iconic works, including an exquisite gallery of portraits, all of which were developed by the author himself using the gelatin dry plate process. An artistic process that is dying out and that takes on a lot of meaning in this project.

In 2022, Fantasías en el Prado, curated by Ángeles Imaña, Director of Conservation and Cultural Activities at the ENAIRE Foundation, opened the PHotoESPAÑA International Photography Festival, where it won the Audience Award for best exhibit at the Festival.

A catalogue on the exhibit is available to purchase in the display hall (€35).

Activities for the public

The Naves de Gamazo, which were created with the clear intention of bringing art and culture closer to society, has developed an extensive educational programme aimed at associations and groups that do not usually visit this type of space.

For this exhibit, the Naves de Gamazo outreach programme has designed specific guided tours to show the works to all audiences in a way that is fun and approachable, as well as to schoolchildren and to groups with specific needs.

To encourage the public to take part in the events, the centre has a website and social media sites with up-to-date information on the exhibits and activities that are taking place. It also has a page on the social media platform Instagram.

Web Naves de Gamazo: www.navesdegamazo.com

Instagram: @NavesdeGamazo

The work of the ENAIRE Foundation

The ENAIRE Foundation is a cultural organisation linked to ENAIRE. Its objectives include the fostering of aeronautical culture and the preservation, expansion and spreading of ENAIRE's artistic heritage. This heritage consists of a notable collection of Spanish and Ibero-American art, spanning from the second half of the twentieth century to the present day, and encompassing more than a thousand works of all types. In addition, since last July, the ENAIRE Foundation has had a permanent venue for the ENAIRE Collection of Contemporary Art at the Naves de Gamazo in Santander.

About ENAIRE

ENAIRE is the air navigation service provider in Spain.

As a company of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, it provides en route control services for all flights and overflights from five control centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Gran Canaria and Palma, as well as approach services to every airport in the country.

In addition, 46 airports receive ENAIRE's communication, navigation and surveillance services, and 21 airports, including the country's busiest, rely on its aerodrome control services.

ENAIRE is Europe's fourth largest air traffic manager and participates in the A6 Alliance, a coalition of air navigation providers responsible for over 80% of European air traffic, and which is seeking to modernise the air traffic management system. It is also a member of other international alliances promoting the Single European sky, such as SESAR Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, iTEC, CANSO and ICAO.

ENAIRE, as the agency appointed by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda to implement the U-space system in Spain, will be the provider of the Common Information Services (CIS), which are essential for administering U-space services to drones and Urban Air Mobility, in interaction with local air traffic control services, so that all types of aircraft can fly safely in the same airspace.

ENAIRE has received the highest score in Europe on the aviation safety key performance indicator. It has also been awarded the EFQM 500 Seal for its safe, efficient, innovative and sustainable management of air navigation services.