"Contrast is no less an element in Torero, where Afanadors bullfighters show the dichotomies of exquisite beauty and horror, glory and disillusion, life and death, revealing how deeply his aesthetic sense is rooted in Hispanic culture. The immediacy, the intensity, and the absolute absence of fear in his subjects eyes find unique expression in the beauty and delicacy of classic portraiture. Exquisitely detailed and lush in the fullness of tone and depth in these intimate pictures, the bullfighters are not shown in the fight, but in the ceremony that precedes it. Torero captures the restrained grace and quiet ferocity of the living bullfighter (Torero, Edition Stemmle 2001).
Ruven Afanador was born in Colombia and spent his childhood in the city of Bucaramanga. While studying art in college, he discovered photography and later honed his technical skills while living in Milan. He moved to New York in 1990 where he has achieved an exceptional career photographing the emblematic figures of contemporary fashion, music, and film. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world".
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