Fashion model-turned-photographer Bruno Cals knows a lot about glamor and style, but now he’s discovering beauty in other forms. Over the past two years, the Brazilian artist has created a series of photographs of the facades of contemporary architectural gems from a skewed point of view. Looking straight up the surface of modern skyscrapers, Cals composes pictures that look more like surrealist landscapes than depictions of buildings. Shooting in Buenos Aires, São Paulo, and Tokyo — where he captured Herzog & de Meuron’s prized Prada Store reflecting the clouds in a painterly way — Cals turns iconic structures and the skies above into mystifying images that flirt with abstraction, while remaining absolutely real.
An exhibition of Bruno Cals’ architectural photographs, titled Horizons, is on view at New York’s 1500 Gallery, a gallery dedicated to the work of Brazilian photographers, through July 31.
Bruno Cals, Quartier, Digital C-Print, 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, 70" x 93.3" (178 x 237 cm), Edition of 50, Courtesy 1500 Gallery, New York
Bruno Cals, Palermo 01, Digital C-Print, 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, 70" x 93.3" (178 x 237 cm), Edition of 50, Courtesy 1500 Gallery, New York
Bruno Cals, Palermo 03, Digital C-Print, 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, Courtesy 1500 Gallery, New York
Bruno Cals, Palermo 02, Digital C-Print, 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, 70" x 93.3" (178 x 237 cm), Edition of 50, Courtesy 1500 Gallery, New York
Bruno Cals, Prada, Digital C-Print, 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, Courtesy 1500 Gallery, New York
Bruno Cals, Largo São Francisco, Digital C-Print 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, 70" x 93.3" (178 x 237 cm), Edition of 50, Courtesy 1500 Gallery, New York
Bruno Cals, Avenida Paulista 01, Digital C-Print, 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, 70" x 93.3" (178 x 237 cm), Edition of 50, Courtesy 1500 Gallery, New York
Bruno Cals, Avenida Paulista 02, Digital C-Print, 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, 70" x 93.3" (178 x 237 cm), Edition of 50, Courtesy 1500 Gallery, New York
Bruno Cals, Avenida Paulista 03, Digital C-Print, 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, 70" x 93.3" (178 x 237 cm), Edition of 50, Courtesy 1500 Gallery, New York
Bruno Cals, Tokyo Midtown, Digital C-Print, 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, 70" x 93.3" (178 x 237 cm), Edition of 50, Courtesy 1500 Gallery, New York
Bruno Cals, Safra, Digital C-Print, 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, 70" x 93.3" (178 x 237 cm), Edition of 50
Bruno Cals, Hermès, Digital C-Print, 35.4" x 47.2" (90 x 120 cm), Edition of 100, Courtesy 1500 Gallery, New York