Confetti soup. Soap soup. Cloud soup. Rain soup. Miguel Vallinas Prieto’s (b. 1971) Suppen series visualises what happens when we let the imagination run wild. Each image takes the same starting point: a tablecloth, glass, plate and spoon, positioned against a dark backdrop. What unfolds is the stuff of daydreams. This world is one of endless creativity, where balloons rise, ceramics shatter and bubbles emerge from the dinner table. In one shot, a small tree grows from a pile of earth. In another, a boiled egg levitates in mid-air. Foam spills out as if from a bathtub, whilst a balloon suspends a rock dripping yellow liquid into a pristine white bowl. “I like to play with perception,” writes Vallinas Prieto, an art, advertising and industrial photographer based in Valladolid, Spain. Driven by nostalgia and a love of storytelling, the artist transforms everyday materials into something magical.
Images courtesy Miguel Vallinas Prieto, from the Suppen series (2019).
