„A world of revenge, honor and glory. Enter the vision of José Luis Abalo. A native of Venezuela, he devoted his photographic efforts to the documentation of Lucha Libre – Mexican and South American wrestling. His photography manages to be humorous, dark, and startling in the same moment.
His photo-book, Luchadores, will be a ticket to the front row of a wrestling match that will surprise you in its ferocity.“
—Donovan Ortega
By pre-ordering the „Luchadores„ photo book, you can support the publishing process of José Luis Abalo.
LUCHADORES by José Luis Abalo from GHOST PRESS on Vimeo.
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José Luis Abalo was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1959. Both of his parents are from Spain and as a youth he traveled to the country often. As a result of these trips he developed a strong connection with Spanish customs and culture, a bond that would later reveal itself in his photography. Abalo completed an undergraduate degree at Bolivar and Garibaldi College in Venezuela and then began a graduate engineering program. It was at this juncture in Abalo’s life that he was introduced to photography and quickly realized it was his passion.
Abalo dropped out of the engineering program and enrolled at the Design Institute in Caracas where he studied under the famed photographer, Jose Sigala.
His experience with Sigala and the rest of the professors at the institute emboldened a passion Abalo would pursue the rest of his life.
Having worked extensively in America, Sigala identified parallels between Abalo’s work and American photographers like Gary Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, and Robert Frank. In these early days of Abalo’s photography, Sigala was a mentor to him. Abalo attributes the time spent with Sigala as a vital part of his progression as an artist.
Before moving to Spain in 1986, Abalo participated in two exhibitions in Caracas. The first was called “More Than One Hundred,” and the second was named, “A Week in Caracas.” Both were well received.
In Spain he began displaying his work both individually and collectively in the cities of Vigo, La Corunna, Barcelona, and Madrid. He also worked for five years as a photojournalist for the newspaper, La Voz de Galicia.
More recently, Abalo has devoted himself to exposing some of his earlier work in a book called Our Earth.
In 2006, he presented photographs taken of the Prestige oil tanker disaster and the volunteers dedicated to its clean up in Buenos Aires. In 2009 he released his last book called, Vigo-Cangas Cangas-Vigo. The photographs focus on passenger vessels on the Vigo River in Galicia, Spain. GHOST PRESS, a social publishing company, will release his next book in the fall of 2012. The photo book is an artistic exploration of South American professional wrestling entitled, Luchadores. Abalo lives in Spain.
For more of José’s work please visit
→ www.joseluisabalo.com
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GHOST PRESS | Social Publishing | New York–London–Cologne
GHOST PRESS was founded by iranian photographer Peyman Azhari as a way to merge his business and artistic talents to create a situation in which artist and consumer engagement builds the platform of the business concept.
From the GHOST PRESS Manifesto:
There are thousands of talented artists in the world, but only a handful will ever have their work read or viewed by more than a few hundred people. Their creations will sit in a closet or a hard drive or some abandoned studio apartment to decay and be forgotten.
At GHOST PRESS, we believe the artistic output of these gifted men and women is valuable and should be given the opportunity to flourish. Today, through the abundance of social networks, people now have the ability to engage with millions at the click of a button. While this may seem like a rather disingenuous way to communicate, at GHOST PRESS we want to leverage this unique ability to empower an entire generation of artists.
GHOST PRESS artists do not compromise their artistic integrity. They are not subject to massive financial barriers. They need only be themselves—creators.
We go beyond classical publishing services. GHOST PRESS is social publishing. We offer artists a platform to display their work as well as tools to create a strong bond with his or her audience. The dialogue between creator and supporter is one of the propellants that powers what we do. Ultimately, this is what will fuel our success.
GHOST PRESS has a vision. Driven forward by their creativity, an artistic community will sprout from nothing. Our artists will appear in traditional and online bookstores. They will hold public exhibitions that act as occasions for face-to-face engagement with supporters. What will have begun as a small stream of like-minded dreamers will converge into a torrent of creativity that will change the way books are published.
This is GHOST PRESS. This is Social Publishing.
Join us.
Connecting the artist with the audience.
Learn more about GHOST PRESS at
→ www.ghost-press.com
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