Roland Castro: So long..

“The interest of a photograph can rely on its own plastic syntax: blur, instantaneousness, wide-angle or telelens vision... amongst all those specific languages, I mainly experimented with substrates and texture”.

These words are Roland Castro's, a talentuous and well-known artist as well as an appreciated pedagogue.
Roland, who left us on Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005.

Discussing with him meant going beyond appearances, wondering about real motivations, “looking farther away”. But he was also a quiet man, open, attentive, respectful – always prepared to bring together diverging opinions, and to unite them in the pursuit of a common project...

A couple of days before he passed away, he told us how delighted he was with the creation of Eurobrom, the forerunner of Picto Benelux, and sent us his wishes of success. Could it have been otherwise after all for an artist who said once “I think that all forms of art coexisting today, from the most classical to the most contemporary, are all equally respectable”.   Or:   “The pigment processes are very well adapted to most of the modern photographic concepts. They add some elements of reflection to the most contemporary questionings and perspectives”.

So long, Roland. Thanks for everything. You'll always be a source of inspiration...

For those who want to learn more about Roland, some pages (in french) are well worth a visit:

• Article published in “Le Jour de Huy-Waremme”
• Article on the Artexpo website (archive)
• Article on the Crayons.be website (archive)
• Article website art-mémoires.com website (archive)
• Roland Castro on Wikipedia