Federico Swarovski

In his rich and vibrant abstract photographs, Argentinean Federico Swarovski uses a painterly eye for texture, form and color to reveal the minute splendor of everyday surfaces. He hones in on the intricate bumps, ridges, warps and swells, the vibrant, otherworldly hues of burnt vehicles, wet glass, dirty tiles and similarly familiar objects, revealing small masterpieces of form and color that elude everyday observers. Taken out of context, Swarovski’s work evokes vast landscape photography or abstract expressionist paintings, with colorful lines and forms fusing and melting across mysterious expanses.

When seen in relation to the objects they portray, his photographs have a kind of beautiful melancholy, revealing the effects of age and experience on even the most familiar details. As Swarovski explains: “Not only the new and clean is beautiful.” His images reveal the often hidden, complex and timeworn beauty of the objects we see and overlook everyday. Forgotten and abandoned surfaces take on an exquisite, romantic and endearing grandeur in Swarovski’s sensual, spectacular photographs.