Xan Padrón
Galician photographer Xan Padrón is best known for his incredibly unique and innovative "Time Lapse," series which involves digital manipulating photographs of individuals onto one large landscape of urban life.
Who is artist xan PadRón?
Born in Ourense, Spain in 1969, Xan Padrón is celebrated for his distinctive approach to capturing urban life. Inspired by sheet music, Padrón's photograph portraits read like sheet music in which each individual signifies one note, yet when visualized together, reads as a collective song. As each work is set in one location, Padrón's collective portraits set a tone and rhythm for each location.
Xan Padrón's "Time Lapse" series reflects the artist's fascination with urban life. His photographic process is intended to reveal genuine behaviors and lives that make up an urban environment. The concealment of the camera heightens the reality of the series. By manipulating I dividual moments into a collective narrative, allows Padrón to capture the soul of a city.
Padrón journey into photography began when iconic photojournalist Enrique Reza gifted him his first camera. Yet it is Xan's father, journalist Luís Padrón, who taught him the art of observing and listening to stories.
After patriating in various street photography projects in New York City, including "Human City," "Motion City," and "Visions of New York," Padrón launched his acclaimed project "Time Lapse" in 2011. Padrón desired to portray the essence of different cities through the people who inhabit them.
Artist Xan Padrón's "Time Lapse" series and its unique depiction of urban life has gardnered him widespread attention. The series has been exhibited in prestigious venues such as the United Nations Headquarters and The Pfizer Building in New York, the Sala Valente in Spain, and numerous art fairs including Photo LA, Art on Paper NYC, and The Other Art Fair, presented by Saatchi Art in major cities like London, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
In 2023, Padrón's work was showcased at the Bryant Park subway station in New York City as part of the MTA Arts & Design Program. His photography has graced the covers of international publications such as the Saatchi Art autumn catalog (2019), and academic anthologies like "Race, Class and Gender in the United States" (MacMillan, 2020) and "Personal Networks" (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
Padrón's work has been featured in esteemed publications such as the New England Review, Die Zeit Magazine, and Photo World Magazine, and has been selected for the Art on Link program by the City of New York. His innovative approach to street photography continues to receive global acclaim, cementing his reputation as a talented storyteller of urban life.
