Author:

Category：Photograph

Year：1979

Size:Length:76 x Width:50 (cm)

Size description：無

Introduction：The work “bullfighting” bears another more lighthearted and appropriate title: Olay! Anto - nio, which originated from an anecdote that took place when the photographer went on an indi - vidual tour and went to see a bullfight with the writer Echo Chen in Spain. As the photographer recalled, he and Echo Chen went to the bullfight show, during which the au - dience stood up and shouted “Olay! Antonio”. A child at heart, the photographer also went frenzy with the locals and applauded for the bullfight - er. He forgot that the camera hung in front of his chest was not turned off, and accidentally pressed the shutter to shoot this impromptu, freestyle, dynamic and dramatic masterpiece. Analyzing the work in terms of the composition, the viewer can find the timing of capturing of Olay! Antonio is so perfect that it doesn’t seem like a coincidence. The inadvertent focus gives the blurriness of the image a touch of an impres - sionist painting, and the more blurred bullfight background is depicted in quick and light brush - strokes of an abstract painting. The blurry and gray tone of the background vividly highlights the subject of the work, the bullfighter. The clothing with glittering light and shadow adds a sense of movement and tension to his body posture while the red silk cloth heightens the core visual focus. The black bull turning around in the back is like the lines and blocks quickly painted by a painter, creating a sense of conflicts during the confrontation. The tense and confrontational dynamics and emotions is crystallized on the still image. The dramatic and emotional tension of the structure, resembling a romanticist painting, tugs at the viewer’s heartstrings.

——Chen Bo-Cheng, “Compilation and Research Project of Metadata of the Collection at the National Center of Photography and Images’s”, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2019.

Accession Number:NCP2016-025-0005