Born in New Jersey, USA, Clemence grew up in Niterói, just across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. After earning a degree in architecture from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, he returned to the United States and settled in Miami Beach, Florida, where he began working as a photographer. There, he pursued a deep connection to beauty through space and time—whether in a fleeting moment or a quiet detail. His photography is far from a mere documentary record; rather than simply capturing a piece of the world or testifying to an event, his images reveal meaning and relationships. With unexpected angles, striking contrasts, and bold compositions, Clemence transforms ordinary details into monumental presences. His lens resists stereotypes and predictability, offering new perspectives through abstraction and the evocative power of light.
Talita Zaragoza, Untitled Memory I, 2023. Acrylic, colored crayon, pencil, and graphite on linen, 39.5 x 35.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
During his years in Miami Beach, Clemence received two consecutive awards from the Miami Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and published his first book, South Beach Architectural Photographs. The volume offers a striking visual journey through the city’s iconic hotels, residential buildings, and urban landscapes—home to some of the world’s most renowned Art Deco architecture. Captured in dramatic black and white, the photographs celebrate sunlight’s interplay with geometric forms and underscore architecture’s emotional impact.
This period was key in refining Clemence’s artistic eye. He began using architecture almost as a pretext to explore his true fascination: the ways light inhabits and transforms urban space. That sensibility is evident in his next book, Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, an exquisite photographic essay on one of the modern German architect’s most celebrated residential designs. A must-have for lovers of architecture, design, modernism, the Bauhaus, Mies van der Rohe, and photography, the book reveals the harmony between light, glass, and structure with poetic intensity. Several of these images are now part of the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) permanent Mies van der Rohe collection in New York.
Top left: Talita Zaragoza, Sleepy Mountain XX, 2021. Acrylic and colored crayon on linen, 80 x 55 inches. Top right: Alaska, 2015-2016. Photo: Leandro Viana. Lower center: Talita Zaragoza, Imaginary Map XIII, 2019. Acrylic and casein on paper, 44 x 56 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
This marks the beginning of a trajectory that firmly establishes Paul Clemence’s photographic work within the contemporary visual arts landscape. His images have been featured in numerous prestigious publications, including Gagosian Quarterly, Metropolis, ArchDaily, Architizer, Casa Vogue Brasil, Modern Magazine, Wallpaper Magazine, Dwell, Interior Design, Archinect, Designboom, The Design Edit, Elle Decor Italia, Architects & Artisans, Everett Potter’s Travel Report, GoNomad, BBC Travel, and Aishti, among others. His work has also been published in notable books, including Here/After: Structures in Time, a collaboration with travel writer and essayist Robert Landon.
In 2020, during the height of global lockdowns implemented to curb the spread of the pandemic, Paul Clemence paid tribute to Brazil’s capital, Brasília, by sharing an online photographic essay of the city’s most iconic buildings. Designed by Oscar Niemeyer (Brazil, 1907–2012)—a central figure in the development of modern architecture—these structures embody a visionary legacy. That same year, a diptych from the series was exhibited at the Consulate General of Brazil in New York. In 2022, Clemence revisited the work of Oscar Niemeyer and released a special black-and-white photographic essay. Through the intense luminosity of Brazil’s central plateau, the images capture the sculptural forms—painted in pure white—designed by the legendary artist and one of the most influential architects of his generation.
Talita Zaragoza, Fish Factory Residency, September 2019, Iceland. Photo: Leandro Viana. Courtesy of the artist.
Talita Zaragoza, Untitled Memory IV, 2024. Acrylic and colored crayon on linen, 36 x 55 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
In the series “Forms, Rhythm, Abstraction: Swiss Museums,” Paul Clemence explores the extraordinary museums of Geneva, Lausanne, Basel, Zurich, and St. Gallen—true cultural treasures that reflect Switzerland’s rich architectural heritage. The minimalist images, composed solely of lines and surfaces, capture the essence of these buildings, designed by renowned architects such as Herzog & de Meuron, Mario Botta, Christ & Gantenbein, Renzo Piano, Aires Mateus, Barozzi Veiga, Shigeru Ban, David Chipperfield Architects, and Graber Pulver. Focused on geometry and rhythm, Clemence’s photographs speak through an aesthetic language of pauses and silences, emphasizing the unique facades and textures of each structure. With striking light play, he invites viewers to experience the space of the frame while offering a glimpse of what his eye sees. In 2023, during Miami Art Week / Art Basel Miami Beach, this photographic essay was featured at Le Salon Suisse, curated by Divine Bonga of Switzerland Tourism. Alongside the exhibition, Clemence moderated a talk on museum architecture with architect Emanuel Christ (partner at Christ & Gantenbein), Andy Klemmer (president of the Paratus Group), and Donna De Salvo (Senior Curator of Special Projects at the Dia Art Foundation).
Talita Zaragoza, Fragment XIV, 2020. Acrylic on linen, 27 x 19 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
Continuing his ongoing engagement with Oscar Niemeyer’s legacy—a sort of perpetual work in progress—Clemence creates a contemporary impressionist interpretation set within the Pampulha architectural complex. This UNESCO World Heritage site, built in the early 1940s and inaugurated in 1943 in the city of Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais), serves as the backdrop for a poetic exploration of form, light, and reflection. Titled “Miragem Moderna,” the photographs capture the Casa do Baile (now the Center for Architecture, Urbanism, and Design), the Pampulha Museum of Art, and the São Francisco de Assis Church. Using the reflective surface of the Pampulha Lagoon, the series becomes a meditation on Niemeyer’s avant-garde vision, both literally and metaphorically. The abstract compositions invite new perceptions of Niemeyer’s iconic architecture, playing with the tension between reality and illusion—conceptual and atmospheric alike. Reflected in the dark waters of the lagoon, the buildings take on a distinctive, almost ethereal luminosity. The photographic series seems to respond to a need for the imagination to break free — a gesture that places the photographer’s creative liberty above the external demands imposed by the building itself. It speaks to a yearning to portray the subject with complete freedom, untethered from the constraints of architectural documentation. The blurring of contours and the visual tensions push the image beyond the frame, softening the precision of form without erasing it. An abundance of color overtakes the line, revealing fractured layers of time and hidden fragments of reality embedded within the image itself. Reflections unveil their dreamlike dimension, concealed in everyday seeing, while the refracted chromatic palette dissolves the boundary between what is real and what is visually constructed. The resulting composition challenges notions of truth and illusion. The poetry of color—emerging by chance—reinforces the intimate relationship between the artist and the unexpected.
Beyond photography, Clemence brought this mirage to life through a large voile textile print for the exhibition “Lugar imaginado, lugar vivido: 80 anos da Casa do Baile” (“Imagined Place, Lived Place: 80 Years of the Casa do Baile”), curated by Guilherme Wisnik and Marina Frugoli. Using an image of the Casa’s columns reflected in the lagoon, the translucent material creates a dialogue between architecture and water, between built form and fluid context, between original vision and contemporary experience—between space and dream.
David Hockney, Pearblossom Highway, 1986. Chromogenic print, 46 7/8 × 64 1/8 inches. Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
Talita Zaragoza, Untitled 2, 2022. Acrylic, colored crayon, colored pencil, and graphite on linen, 16 x 20 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
Another notable body of work is “Red Interlude,” a photographic essay set in the scarlet-red rooftop pool of the iconic Hotel Unique in São Paulo, designed by Brazilian architect Ruy Ohtake (1938–2021). For the 2016 exhibition at Palazzo Bembo in Venice, Clemence created an immersive installation: a large-scale print on the floor paired with photographs on the walls. An original installation in which the Brazilian photographer merges his conceptual ideas with the avant-garde, expressive nature of his gaze toward the built environment. Visitors were invited to step into the space and “dive” into the sensory experience of the pool—reminding them, within the Venetian palace, that they were quite literally standing above water. In this way, the installation enhances the awareness of the nature of the space they occupy, while simultaneously evoking a distant place.
Top center: Talita Zaragoza in her grandfather’s studio during the pandemic, which now hosts exhibitions and cultural events (Taller Zaragoza). São Paulo, 2021. Lower left and right: Talita Zaragoza, Mini Z’s, 2021. Acrylic, colored pencil, and crayon on paper, 9.8 x 7.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
This is the merit of an artist who sees photography as a form of art—an expressive space through which to share his vision of the built environment and its subjective presence in our lives. Clemence’s visual investigations reflect an intuitive narrative shaped by experimental approaches, offering space for reflection and thought. In his photographs, shadows, reflections, textures, patterns, and transparency are the essential elements of abstraction, forming compositions where color and form are liberated from rigid formalism.
His work is not about documenting architecture, but about expressing how we perceive it—and how it inspires us. For Clemence, architecture is not merely about constructing buildings; it is also a way of looking at the world.
Light is at the heart of his practice. It is motion. It is the untamed light beyond the frame’s edge that guides his photography, in a continuous dialogue with nature—and with illusion.
Talita Zaragoza, Florida, MIA, 2020. Photo: Leandro Viana. Courtesy of the artist.
1. John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London, British Broadcast Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972), 10.
2. In our conversations, Talita talked about the idea of understanding and paying homage to nature and the issues of practices of
dominance and intervention. In an email exchange, she shared a reference that left an impression on me by the artist Felix
Gonzales Torres: “Above all else, it was about leaving a mark that I existed: I was here. I was hungry. I was defeated. I was happy. I was sad. I was in love. I was afraid, I was hopeful. I had an idea and I had a good purpose and that’s why I made works of art.”
3. Jonathan Crary, Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge, MIT Press, 1992), 20. The entire quote is: “Perception for Benjamin was acutely temporal and kinetic; he makes clear how modernity subverts even the possibility of a contemplative beholder. There is never a pure access to a single object; vision is always multiple, adjacent to and overlapping with other objects, desires, and vectors. Even the congealed space of the museum cannot transcend a world where everything is in circulation.” Even though when Benjamin writes about this, he is looking at an intense urban transformation taking place with a new amount and types of stimulus to one’s attention, what interests me is the notion that “vision is always multiple” and kinetic, which I believe this is part of a contemporary understanding of visuality.
4. David Hockney, Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters (New York, Viking Studio, 2006), 191.
The entire paragraph is: “Cézanne’s innovation was that he put into his picture his own doubts about how objects relate to himself, recognizing that viewpoints are in flux, that we always see things from multiple, sometimes contradictory, positions. It is a human, binocular vision (two eyes, two viewpoints, and therefore doubt) that functions here, in contrast to the tyrannical, monocular vision of the lens (Vélazquez), which ultimately reduces the viewer to a mathematical point, fixing him to a particular spot in space and time.”
Talita Zaragoza, Sleepy Mountain XXXIII. Acrylic, colored crayon, pencil and graphite on linen, 41 x 79 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
Iara Pimenta is an independent curator and writer interested in the intersections of art and architecture. Her projects look at the relationships between history and transformations in the built environment and how artworks propose new perspectives on collective memories and imaginaries. She has researched and written about exhibitions, institutions, and the work of artists and architects, especially from the Americas. She holds a master’s degree in Critical and Curatorial Practices from Columbia University and a professional degree in Architecture from the University of São Paulo. She has years of experience elaborating and planning exhibitions and public programs while collaborating with organizations and art galleries in São Paulo (Brazil) and New York. Her projects have been presented at the 3rd Istanbul Design Biennial (Turkey), Residency Unlimited (New York), Kunstraum (New York), Columbia University (New York), and Book Culture LIC (New York), among others.
To know more about Iara: @iarapimenta
Left: Talita Zaragoza, Untitled Memory III, 2024. Acrylic, colored crayon, and graphite on linen, 38 x 31 inches.
Right: Talita Zaragoza in her grandfather’s studio, São Paulo, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.
Talita Zaragoza, born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1985, is an artist working with painting, drawing, and photography. Her inspiration is rooted in the dynamic between humanity and nature, exploring our urge to shape and control the landscape.
In her paintings and drawings, Zaragoza weaves together landscapes from memory, creating a realm reminiscent of ever-changing maps. These maps adapt to shifts in politics, the environment, and the viewer’s perspective. As observers, we are in constant flux, projecting ourselves into the landscape and, consequently, into her art.
Since 2012, Zaragoza has been based in New York, where she studied at the International Center for Photography (ICP), focusing on Fine Arts photography. She holds a B.A. in Fine Arts (2008) and a Master’s degree in Art History (2010) from Fundação Alvares Penteado (FAAP) in São Paulo, Brazil.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, notably in São Paulo and New York, at venues like Nars Foundation, Galeria Lume, Carmo Johnson Projects, Foley Gallery, Lazy Susan Gallery, Emma Thomas Gallery, and The International Center for Photography. Zaragoza has also completed artist residencies in the United States, including Residency Unlimited, The Hollows in New York, The Marble House in Vermont, and one in Iceland at The Fish Factory.
Zaragoza’s artistry transcends borders, with projects spanning Brazil and the United States. She is represented by Gisela Projects.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
“Regra de Três”, June 2024, Galeria Estação with Gisela Projects, São Paulo, BR “Engradados”, April 2023, Taller Zaragoza with Gisela Projects, São Paulo, BR “Futuro Oásis”, April 2023, Galeria Lume with Gisela Projects, São Paulo, BR
“Sounds of Water”, December 2022, Sardine Gallery with Gisela Projects, New York, US “Echoes Are Visible”, August 2022, The Boiler, New York, US
“Poéticas do Habitar”, October 2021, Casa Cunha Lima, São Paulo, BR
“Emotional Landscapes”, July 2021, Taller Zaragoza, São Paulo, BR “Conditions of Exchange”, April 2019, New York, US “Land+Body=Escape”, Nars Foundation, 2018, New York, US “Land+Body=Escape”, 2018, Carrer D’art, Miami, US
“Bird”, 2018, Bird, New York, US
“Árvore, Galhos e Folhas”, Galpões Santo Antonio, 2017, Amparo – BR
“Living Things”, Lazy Susan Gallery 2017, New York – US “Procession”, Folley Gallery, October 2016, New York – US “Rubik’s Cube”, Hollows, October 2016, New York – US
“Vertigo”, at Interventions 3, September 2016, New York – US “Gogó da Ema”, Emma Thomas Gallery, July 2016, New York – US “Transportados”, Casa Samambaia, 2016, São Paulo, BR
“Da Feitura dos Sonhos” – Galeria Ventana, 2014 – São Paulo – BR “P/ARTE” – Galeria de Babel, 2014 – São Paulo – BR
“Elective Affinities”, 2014 – International Center for Photography, New York – US
“Estruturas Imaginárias”, 2014 – MARCO, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Campo Grande, BR
“P/ARTE” – Galeria de Babel, 2012 – São Paulo – BR “Sem Marchand II”, 2012 – São Paulo – BR
“Ressonâncias”, 2011 – Galeria Concreta, São Paulo – BR “Sem Marchand”, 2011 – São Paulo – BR
“Arquivo Criativo”, 2010 – São Paulo – BR
“Do lado de lá”, 2008 – MAB-FAAP, São Paulo – BR
ART RESIDENCIES
The Hollows, New York, 2014
The Marble House, Vermont, 2015 Fish Factory, Iceland, 2019
Residency Unlimited, New York, 2023
To know more about Talita: @talita.zaragoza
Talita Zaragoza,Silhouette 2, 2002. Acrylic, colored crayon, colored pencil, and graphite on linen, 30 x 48 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
