Based on the most traditional photography techniques and devoid of any kind of theatrical trick, the images portrayed by photographer Javier Silva-Meinel (Peru, 1949) manage to convey a powerful emotional and aesthetic energy. An eloquent example of this was the exhibition he staged a few months ago at the new Patricia Ready Gallery, in Santiago, which stirred up the interest of, and gained recognition from Chilean critics, collectors, and the public at large.

In addition to their indisputable technical virtuosity, the impeccable handling of light they denote, and the resolute neatness of their composition, Javier Silva-Meinel’s photographs allow us to perceive the close relationship of complicity that their author establishes with the material his viewfinder captures. This was confirmed by the exhibition he presented recently at the new Patricia Ready Gallery, where he showed 44 analog photographs in rigorous black and white – an option he has remained faithful to throughout his career. Unconcerned with fashion and technological displays, Silva-Meinel mounted an exhibition which, although inscribed within the tradition of auteur photography, conveys an energy of its own that is still fully valid. Twenty-four of the images he showed corresponded to the series of portraits of natives executed in the highlands and jungles of Peru already widely shown around the world. The other twenty photographs had never been exhibited before, and they portrayed landscapes captured in Machu Picchu in which Silva-Mainel successfully maintains the same emotional gaze that characterizes his portraits of people. ...http://www.holdenluntz.com/artists/javier-silva-meinel