Travel, like architecture, is both movement and expectation. Álvarez-Diestro merges both as he relentlessly scouts the world´s new metropolis in his abiding quest for beauty. The journey is as important as the work. And the adventure not only lies in showing the relationship between a new building and the geography of its surroundings (that massive silent witness), but in the excitement of the explorer upon being in the vibrant metropolis, trying to capture a fleeting reality that sparks in the glossy windows of the new skyscrapers for the first time. Photography as a way of living but never as a way to make a living, since none of his projects were ever commissioned.

His photographs elicit sensations of wonder as he blends reality and dream, for he departs from the utmost physicality of the landscape and raw materials to portray high-density buildings as an abyss of dreams and longings redolent of the future. But he also has a strong feeling for the human, for he provides his photographs with emotions, as he has a keen eye for the sometimes paradoxical dialogue –communion or collision– between nature and human constructions. Indeed, architecture is as much a force for destruction as it is for improvement, but in his combination of acute realism and epic materialism, Álvarez Diestro induces dreams of a plentiful tomorrow. Yes, the human figure tends to be absent, but he playfully portrays them through their creations, the buildings, as if those had sprung naturally from the earth. He has a sure eye for finding the irony in juxtaposing neighboring realities.

His photographs are a rich celebration of the new metropolis that is both exhilarating and uncanny, for in the ever-changing landscape, the past does not exist, thus disturbing the dead. This time, the journey is to the future.

His work is one of the most energetic and original among its contemporary colleagues.

Written by Hugo Obregón.