CARS!
Roadside Views
by Gustavo Minas
The relationship between cinema, road movies and photography is so close and intertwined that it's hard to even which has the greatest influence on the other. Fortunately, this mutual interference is not competition, but rather
prolific collaboration between the genres, which has yielded good results for both parties. One inspires the who in turn inspires the original inspirer.
prolific collaboration between the genres, which has yielded good results for both parties. One inspires the who in turn inspires the original inspirer.
In Cars, David Deloustal contributes to this tradition of roadside cinema and photography, which includes names
Lee Friedlander, Stephen Shore, Raghubir Singh, Jean-Luc Godard, Win Wenders, Dennis Hopper, Karl Baden,
radford and many others.
In his second book, David asserts himself as an author who takes advantage of landscapes not to represent them ly, but to reflect himself, in a restless quest that I've been lucky enough to follow closely, in the role of his editor, e beginning of 2023.
But what is so magical about the automobile that it produces such intriguing films, books and photographs? We amble on and on, but here are a few points that come to mind.
First, there is this eternal promise of moving towards a happiness that is somewhere other than our current
n. In cars, we move at high speeds, watching the world go by distorted through the window, because the best is yet e somewhere other than where we are. We run towards the sea, in the heat of summer, towards the comfort of the ins,inwinter,andperhapstowardssomeonethatdistanceallowsustoidealize.
when it is still virgin. As children, car trips are our first encounter with the vastness that exists beyond our village, and
the windows and mirrors of cars, with the images they frame, teach us to see within the four lines, in a foreshadowing of
this type of framed visions that are characteristic of cinema and photography.
Finally, I highlight the enormous evocative potential of the scenes and scenarios that we glimpse in passing on the
sides of the road. Who is the family that lives in that little yellow house in the middle of nowhere? Where does that guy
who carries a bag with his belongings on his back in the middle of that open field is going to? And where does he come
from? What is this couple on motorbikes and leather jackets drinking beer in front of that gas station running away from?
Who was the guy who died at this curve of the road, for whom they placed this cross and these dried flowers on the path?
As authors, our imagination takes off and flies with these fleeting images, and when I travel by car, I always suffer a little
from the anguish of not being able to stop to record them.
For me, this evocative power is precisely the crucial point of this work by Deloustal. His images are full of
symbols, sometimes discreet, other times more obvious, that build brick by brick this feeling of being on the road with an
open mind and heart. Each image is equivalent to a spark of a story, and the author is generous enough to leave several
gaps in these pages to be filled by the imagination and memories of other journeys made by the reader who rides through
these pages.
symbols, sometimes discreet, other times more obvious, that build brick by brick this feeling of being on the road with an
open mind and heart. Each image is equivalent to a spark of a story, and the author is generous enough to leave several
gaps in these pages to be filled by the imagination and memories of other journeys made by the reader who rides through
these pages.
.