We are

Paco Gómez

Founded in 2005, NOPHOTO is a contemporary photography collective that aims to make UNCONVENTIONAL individual and collective projects viable.

The collective is characterized by its open content, an interdisciplinary thread in its forms, the use of multiple supports such as the web and digital projections when distributing projects, and the personal involvement of its members during the creative and production process.

NOPHOTO takes negation as its starting point. NOPHOTO is not an agency of photographers, but an ATTITUDE. A way of seeing. A revolution. A ‘NO’ (where there’s never enough).

This aesthetic attitude makes NOPHOTO not renounce any kind of creation or exhibition. Works by the collective offer an experienced view of the everyday, which always leads to the extraordinary. This process is the result of group reflection and interaction among alternative creative processes.

“It’s not that we like to take the opposing view; it’s that we enjoy walking slowly, clumsily, observing minute differences between things, discovering their rhythms. Trying to describe an object, turn it on its head, comb its surroundings and cover the entire perimeter. Asking ourselves what it’s made of and what role it plays in the story. Demanding of ourselves that we wear the subject out and still haven’t said anything. Demanding of ourselves that we look closely and yet haven’t resolved anything. Not to illustrate, define or take photographs. We like to unphotograph things and unname them.”

NOPHOTO was awarded the Revelación Award 2006 by the PHotoEspaña International Festival of Photography and Visual Arts.

The Modlins

An unbelievable story retrieved from the trash

Publication

It took Paco Gómez ten years to write THE MODLINS. Ten years of research, full of difficulties, to compose a narrative puzzle where the author rebuilds, from photos found in the trash, the disturbing and strange story of the Modlins, a family of American artists obsessed with fame who settled in Madrid in the 70's in Spain. The Modlins' family was linked to many historical events in the 20th century, in the USA as well as in Spain, and during their lifetime they spread clues so their adventure was told how they had decided. Paco Gómez then becomes with this book the performer of the wish of people who are dead and he never met. THE MODLINS is an atypical book, half way between literature and photography, printed in four colors and in an exquisite edition. It puts together a story you read while seeing or you see while reading, where the reader little by little becomes an spectator generating a movie in her or his imagination. Text and image shape a single literary body where different literary genders come together, in a natural way, such as journalistic chronicle, detective biography, personal journal, fiction and, of course, photography.    

Book available in losmodlin.com

First edition: 2500 copies. Second edition: 1500 copies / 14 x 21.5 cm / 288 pages / Perfect binding with flaps / Text Editor: Sebastián Taberna  / Design: M/Gráfico /  Cover Illustration: Ana Cubas  / Proofreading: Ángela Villaverde and Juan Marqués

Los Modlin

Inclusión en el álbum familiar

Project

The exterior of the house where the Modlins lived on Pez Street. Madrid, 2006
The main entrance of the Modlins’building on Pez Street. Madrid, 2006
Stains of Margaret Marley Modlin´s paintings in the living room. Madrid,2006
Margaret Marley Modlin working on one of her last paintings. Madrid, 2006
Carlos Sanva as Nelson Modlin. Madrid, 2006
The Angel Exterminator. Left: Carlos Sanva. 2006. Right: Nelson Modlin.1976
Jonás Bel as Nelson Modlin. Madrid, 2006
The Angel Exterminator. Above: Elmer Modlin. 1980s. Below: Jonás Bel. 2006
Joy Bautista as Margaret Modlin. Madrid, 2006
The Angel Exterminator. Left: Margaret Marley Modlin. 1980s. Right: Joy Bautista. 2006
The living room door. Pez Street home. Madrid,2006
Surrealist bathroom. Pez Street home. Madrid, 2006
Margaret´s shoes. Pez Street home. Madrid, 2006
Clothing hung on the back hall patio clothes line of the Pez Street home. Madrid, 2006
The Modlin´s kitchen. Madrid, 2006
Isabelle as Margaret. Carraia Bridge. Firenze, 2009
Above: Margaret Marley Modlin. Puente Carraia. Florencia, 1974 Below:Isabelle as Margaret. Carraia Bridge. Firenze, 2009
Isabelle as Margaret. Guadalupe Monastery. Cáceres, 2010
On the left: Margaret Marley Modlin. Guadalupe Monastery. Cáceres, 1975 On the right: Isabelle as Margaret. Guadalupe Monastery. Cáceres, 2010
On the left: Margaret Modlin in front of the Ducal Palace. Venice, 1970s (Original Negative found in the garbage). On the right: Isabelle Monfort in front of the Ducal Palace. Venice, 2006
Above: Margaret Modlin and Sotero Luengo at the fountain in Valverde de la Vera Square. Cáceres, 1978 (Original copy belonging to Luengo family). Below: Sotero Luengo in Valverde de la Vera Square. Cáceres, 2006
Isabelle como Margaret. Old bridge. Ronda, 1978
Above: Margaret Marley Modlin. Old bridge. Ronda, 1978 Below: Isabelle como Margaret. Old bridge. Ronda, 2013
Paco Gómez in front of the Eiffel Tower. Paris, 2007
On the left: Elmer Modlin in front of the Eiffel Tower. Paris, 1970s (Original negative found in the garbage). On the right: Paco Gómez in front of the Eiffel Tower. Paris, 2007
On the left: Margaret Modlin in front of the Eiffel Tower. Paris, 1970s (Original negative found in the garbage). On the right: Isabelle Monfort in front of the Eiffel Tower. Paris 2007
Nelson Modlin. San Juan Beach, Alicante. 1970s
Paco Gómez San Juan Beach, Alicante. 2013
Jonás Bel contemplates for the first time the painting The Black Woman by Margaret Marley Modlin. Torrejón de Ardoz, 2006
Sculpture of The Christians conceived to contain Margaret and Elmer´s ashes after their death. Torrejón de Ardoz, 2006
Jonás Bel and Raul García contemplate the Tajuña river from Nelson Modlin´s land. Brihuega, Guadalajara. 2006
Nelson Modlin´s shower. Brihuega, Guadalajara. 2006
Margaret Modlin´s sculpture for the painting Jota which was found in a garden. Brihuega, 2006
The Angel Exterminator. Left: Margaret Marley Modlin. 1970. Right: Mario La Vega. 2006
Mario La Vega with his dog on Miguel Moya Street. Madrid, 2006
The Angel Exterminator. Left: The Luengo family, 1978. Right: The Luengo family, 2006
The Luengo Family. Valverde de la Vera. Cáceres. 2006
The Angel Exterminator. Above: Fátima. 1970s. Below: Natalia. 2006
Fictitious plaque at the Pez Street home, The Modlins have achieved their ultímate objective of becoming famous. Madrid, 2007