I would like to think that I have a more human psyche, as human being. Human is form, Being is formless. Being male is just a form of being human. One of them. And what I do is exactly that, behave more as a human psyche, a bit breaking the classic conservative rules and labels of what is being male or what is being woman. Some of my self portraits are not new if you search in female photography, but somehow are more unusual in male nudes. It’s the body and it’s the mind I have, so it’s what I use to express myself. But sometimes the need of creating something that can’t be done by me as model, takes me to find another one. Another male body like mine, which I feel much more comfortable to “use” as if it was my own, the complement of my psyche to express the best way I can. [Gonzalo Bénard]

A rose is a rose is a rose’ was penned by Gertrude Stein, but to say ‘a photograph is a photograph is a photograph’ does not follow when that photograph is by Gonzalo Bénard. Bénard’s photos and images exist in their own universe, a world apart, and we can only connect to them when we yield to either their humour, or, are willing to walk the road that Bénard has pointed us towards; all of his photographs have an intended destination. Gonzalo Bénard is able to use those things around him that are within reach; people he knows, friends or otherwise, and assemble them as part of his self portraits that become a road map to a magical place where self is realised and one’s world and universe is expanded. [Brad Ryden, November 2009]

Images:
Gonzalo Bénard
Courtesy of the artist

Tagged: black and white, body, Gonzalo Bénard, male, man, nude, photography, portrait, smoking