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Milonga
1980
Hand-coloured photograph with collage and fluorescent light
Dimensions: 105 x 100 cm
Reference: ACF0551
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This is a large format black-and-white photograph, coloured by hand and bathed in the cold light of a fluorescent tube incorporated in the surface of the picture itself. The image shows Pezos in profile looking dishevelled and dejected, leaning his elbow on the bar of a legendary Barcelona dance hall called Cibeles. The spirit of the piece emerged from a song lyric: ‘Even great stars don’t like themselves when they look in the mirror.’ It is a staged shot that reflects the crisis Pezos went through when he turned thirty, and it marks the beginning of the decline of a fictitious character defined by glamour and nostalgia that Pezos had been gradually constructing since 1976, starting with his exhibition Voy a hacer de mí una estrella. The piece encapsulates a terrible moment: we must imagine Pezos in Cibeles, completely identified with his character, as opposed to just playing a part. And we must imagine him after a long night of music and drink—in celebration of his thirtieth birthday—defeated by the hangover and coming to the conclusion that he could no longer go on playing that part.
