Contradiction Juxtaposed and Digital Representation in Contemporary Art: The Work of Dionisio González

Abstract

The Spanish artist Dionisio González creates imaginary landscape images—urban or natural—from combining digital photographs of real scenes with renders of fictitious architecture, and extreme designs. His creative strategies are typical of contemporary artistic production, and can be compared to several ideas that Robert Venturi developed in his book “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture”, related to the phenomenon of “contradiction juxtaposed”: superadjacencies, shock effects, accidental contrasts, etc. The aesthetic results are also those suggested by Venturi: complexity, inclusion, richness of meaning and multi-faceted vision. González generates contradiction through the juxtaposition of reality and fiction, but also shows the contradictions of the real world through his selection of scenes, in which situations of social injustice, precariousness and vulnerability are often revealed—such as the favelas of Brazil, or places exposed to natural catastrophes, compelling the viewer into critical reflection. Dionisio González’s work reveals, on the one hand, contemporary art’s interest in architecture, cities and landscapes, and on the other the potential of digital representation—photographic rendering and retouchin—to construct virtual landscapes of extraordinary verisimilitude.