The art of Javier Rey is sexy but also edgy. The viewer admires the beauty of the flesh and the landscape, but sometimes there is a puzzling aspect to his photographs. An image of what looks like a flesh sculpture with no identifiable head. A body contorted on a set of stairs. A distorted reflection in water.
“Just shooting hot guys is a bit limiting for me. I find a lot of types hot, so I try to find what I think is hot and work with that. The images aren’t uncomfortable for me because for me, it’s normal, this is how I see things. People can be shocked by images, but they can also enjoy them at the same time. I’m just trying to be really honest with my images,” Rey tells Wander+Lust.
Rey grew up in Bucaramanga in the department of Santander, Colombia, a city about eight hours from Bogotá, where he now works and lives. He started taking photos of friends in high school, and gradually the images became more and more complex. Rey might take a decade between when he captures an image and when he decides what to do with it—how to crop and otherwise manipulate it.
We asked Rey how he gets models to bare themselves for art, and about some of the favourite places he’s visited.
Male beauty is a theme that runs through your work, but you capture it in lots of different ways. Where do you get your ideas from?
Pop culture is a big inspiration. Yesterday I was watching a film by Kanye West that he made 14 years ago, in connection to his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album. I remembered it was a big inspiration for me at that moment. What I explore a lot in my images is that the body will change depending on its surroundings. If you’re on the beach, your body will be somehow different than it is in a really cold place. We humans behave differently in different spaces. I try to capture that. Mostly I do documentary images, people just living out their days. That’s fascinating to me, because sometimes you find something more erotic in the everyday lives of people than you do in the studio.
The series “Engulfment” features naked men on the rocks, beaches and landscape around Cartagena, Colombia. How did that come to be?
I never decide I’m going to shoot in this place or that place. I just find a person I feel comfortable with and we talk about the images we want to do, then find a place where the model can interact with the landscape. For that series, I was working with another artist from Cartagena. It’s illegal to get completely naked out in the landscape there, so we tried to find a place where we could work, where it felt safe for him and for me. We found these rocks where men go cruising. We were alone, and he took off his clothes and we started shooting. People came by with boats, but it was okay. The images just came naturally.
For that project you worked with a fellow artist. Is that typical of how you find your models?
Mostly. A lot of artists and a lot of gay boys who want the exposure. But I try to avoid that, because I don’t like it when people want to work with me just for the likes on Instagram. But sometimes you have to work with what you have at hand. There are a lot of guys here who want to be photographed. The awkward part is that they want to be photographed in the Instagram style, which I don’t do. We’ll negotiate it. I also have a few friends who have a fetish for being looked at and being photographed.
Bogotá is a huge city, with nearly 11 million people living in the metropolitan area. How does living there inspire your work?
The city is so crazy. It’s sometimes so clean and sometimes so dirty. In a lot of ways, it’s feeding me information all the time. I’ve been to other cities, some that are so peaceful and clean, and they don’t inspire me. In Bogotá, you can find everything. Parks where people go cruising or parks where people just go to get some sun. On Sundays we have something called Ciclovía, where they close several major streets to traffic so people can go run and ride their bikes. They’re usually sexy with their clothes, so I’ll go and watch and inspire myself that way.
What advice would you give someone thinking of visiting Bogotá for the first time?
I like the culture here. You can go from very sophisticated parties to something really local. My friends and I will go to very traditional places to play pool. But you can also spend your days in museums, galleries, walking around the city. You can do everything here except go to the beach.
Do you go out much in Chapinero, the hub of LGBTQ+ nightlife in Bogotá? That’s where Theatron (Cl. 58 #10-32, Bogotá), probably the biggest gay club in the world, is located.
I’ve never been to Theatron. I don’t like huge places. I’d rather go to a small bar, where the truckers go.
What are your favourite galleries?
Well, right now, Galería Elvira Moreno (Cra. 23 #72A-61, Bogotá) is a good place to go. Galería El Museo (Cl. 80 #11-42, Bogotá), Galería La Cometa (Cra. 10 #94A-25, Bogotá), Galería Casas Riegner (Cl. 70a #741, Bogotá). Galería Santa Fe (Cra. 1A entre Calles 12C y, Cl. 12d, Bogotá) is a great place because they show the best artists. There is a competition here called Premio Luis Caballero in which the best artists of Colombia participate. Every two months Galería Santa Fe has a new exhibit with the participants.
What’s your favourite place to visit in Colombia?
I most enjoy where I come from, Santander. It’s not really known to international tourists. It has Cañón del Chicamocha, which is a national park. It’s quiet and beautiful, and you can do anything you want there. I’ve taken a lot of photos there. You could go for the day, but you’re going to want to explore the place for longer than that. I don’t know if there are tours. I’ll usually do it with friends, as a road trip.
What’s your favourite place to visit outside Colombia?
I don’t know a lot of places internationally, but I went to Italy last year and fell in love with it. The people there are really warm. The guys are hot. All types of guys. And they will treat you so much better because you’re an artist. The thing in Colombia is, if you’re an artist, you can be treated like a second-class citizen. It’s very hard to live on your art. In Italy, it felt like art was a very important thing. Palermo was a crazy place with crazy parties, but also beaches. I love places with volcanos.
When you are travelling, are you always looking for ideas for your art?
When I started travelling, I was just focused on the work of doing photos. It takes away from the tourist experience. So now I try to go more as a tourist, and if I have time to do a shoot, I will.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
