Esteban  Pastorino Diaz, Las Ventas #2, 2006

C-print mounted on dibond and face mounted with acrylic . 31.50 x 47 in. (80 x 119.4 cm.). AP1 (edition of 5 plus 2 APs) Estimate: from $8,000 to $10,000

Notes: This particular photograph was exhibited in the fall of 2008 at the School of the Museum of Fine Art. Las Ventas #2 is part of the permanent collection of the WEST Collection in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

This photograph is part of a series of 5 images taken at the Las Ventas Bullring in Madrid, Spain. The 5 photographs show the sequence of the bullfight, from the beginning procession to the dragging of the dead bull. This part of the sequence shows the matador with the knives, looking like a stick figure. But a very haunting symbol of the fight.

The photography of Esteban Pastorino Díaz is so fascinating, it would make anyone do a double take. But even more remarkable than the photographs are the hand-made instruments he uses to obtain such images. He produces whimsical, ludic prints with what he terms Kite Aerial Photography (KAP.). To achieve these dream-like photos, he attaches a hand-built camera to a kite that he then flies at 400 feet in the air. The camera's lens is tilted and shifted, which creates a "fake" short depth. On first glance, it might look like a picture of a maquette or a diorama, but on closer inspection, it's real people and buildings in his photographs; like a giant's view of the world. [Andrea Murray]

Esteban Pastorino Diaz has prints in the following collections:
Art Institute of Chicago. U. S. A.
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, U.S.A.
Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Massachussets. U.S.A.
Museum of Fine Arts. Houston. Texas. U.S.A.
Museo Del Barrio. New York. U.S.A.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California U.S.A.
The West Collection, Oaks, Pennsylvania U.S.A.
Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires. Argentina.
Museum of Modern Art. Buenos Aires. Argentina.
Museo Castagnino. Rosario. Argentina.
Museum of Contemporary Art. Bahía Blanca. Argentina.
Televisa Fundation, Mexico City, Mexico
Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten. Amsterdam. The Netherlands.
Colección Fundación Federico Klemm. Argentina.
Centre for Photography at Woodstock. NY. U.S.A.
Private collections in Argentina, U.S.A, Spain, U.K., Germany, France, Netherlands. Belgium, Mexico and Colombia.

The entire Las Ventas series will be published in the artist's upcoming monograph that will release this fall.

Artnet Auctions. Thursday, August 20, 2009, 1:00 PM EST www.artnet.com