LOVE’S LABOUR
Sergio Purtell's Poetic, Erotic Photographs
In the recently published photo book, Love’s Labour, reminiscent scenes from decades past are highlighted as a young photographer embarks on a pilgrimage in search of love. Whether it is a pursuit of love on a grand scale or perhaps a search for the more quietly intimate and atomic moments, Sergio Purtell successfully captures a form of magic that encompasses tenderness, intimacy, and humanity. Chilean-born and American-educated, Purtell spent five summers in the late 70s and early 80s traversing the affordable Eurail throughout England, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, and Spain.
Curated and published by STANLEY/BARKER, Purtell’s exploratory images are now rightly adorned upon wide pages. As is written within the front flap of the book, “A young man sets out to find his Love. As he traverses the European continent, he learns to forget the past, live in the present, and appreciate the journey.”
Although the summertime is not always best reflected in black and white, Purtell captures seasonal scenes that are elegant and timeless. A photographer who has continuously used a matte black and white approach, one could say that the technique is necessary for his work. The viewer is not left wanting for color but revels in the monochrome, even in a European summer.
Among the many human subjects that Purtell captures in Love’s Labour, statues frequently appear on the opposite page from adjacently similar figures, both poised, serene, and often nude — as if they had all been waiting for quite some time for the engagement of Purtell’s shutter button. Of Purtell’s human subjects, many are captured without their knowing, often caught while asleep, curled up on a park’s grassy floor, on the edge of a fountain, or next to the ocean. Yet, other photographs grow more intimate as Purtell shares a rowboat, a room, and other close quarters with his subjects.
“I studied the small gestures, the unruliness of leisure,” says Purtell. “Walking through the parks and plazas, sometimes meeting friends who brought me into their homes, I was allowed to record lives that seemed familiar to me even though I had just arrived.”
The images of Sergio Purtell’s Love’s Labour have an impeccable talent — the longer the gaze lasts upon a photo, the more magic is disclosed to the viewer. Details began to reveal themselves and each image grows increasingly complex, like layers of a theatrical production. The intricacies of human gestures, facial expressions, and inner thoughts rise to the surface of the page, apparent in sideways glances and lingering touches. The slow ticking of time that seems to occur in a summer’s day similarly transpires in the photographs, akin to a nostalgic sun, stubborn to set.
To learn more about the book, visit here.
