Abelardo Morel is a Cuban-American artist
Episode 147: I don’t want to be too over the top about this, but I honestly believe that, photographically-speaking Abelardo Morell is nothing short of a genius.
![](https://nearesttruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2010_Tent-CameraImageonGroundViewofRomefromtheSpanishAcademy_2500.jpg)
Rome From the Spanish Academy 2010 Tent Camera Abelardo Morell
On top of that he also has the gift of humour. This episode was informative and it was also a damn riot in places. You will note a number of times in which laughter reigns, particularly when we speak about the original Bad Lieutenant film by Abel Ferrara-I will leave it there for you to find. Cinema comes into our discussion several times as does the history of art. We speak towards the end about Hitchcock in particular.
![](https://nearesttruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2010_Tent-CameraImageonGroundTheFlorenceBaptistry.jpg)
The Florence Baptistry 2010 Tent Camera Abelardo Morell
Back to Abe’s work. I have been a fan of his work for a very long time. I remember seeing his Camera Obscura works very early on in my formative moments and remember being really taken with them. Having studied some of the technical history of the medium, I find Abe’s work loaded with history and a sensibility that extends past the contemporary. This sensibility incorporates a deep fascination with literature, the production of art-particularly painting and a incredibly acute eye for optical challenges. It is a territory that most in photography do not venture.
![](https://nearesttruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/1996_009_CameraObscura_ImageofManhattanViewLookingWestinEmptyRoom_2500.jpg)
Image of Manhattan Looking West In an Empty Room 1996 Camera Obscura Abelardo Morell
This conversation feels something akin to a lesson. Abe guides us through his interest in the camera obscura, but also his interest in Thoreau, painting and geographies such as the American West. We discuss a few of his breakthrough moments with making images within the camera obscura, but also his itinerant Tent Camera images. We also discuss his background, which is compellingly beautiful somehow as a Cuban immigrant to New York. There is a beautiful passage about windows in Abe’s biography that we catch here in minor audio prose. It’s a great story filled with optimism. Please tune-in. Abe is one of the very best speakers about the medium and an absolute joy to have spoken with.
![](https://nearesttruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2019-AfterHitchcockFrenzy1972TheGreenLady.jpg)
After Hitchcock, Frenzy (1972), The Green Lady, 2019 Abelardo Morell