The speed, the agitation, the decisive, vibrant gestures of passersby, and the chromatic and symbolic diversity that a megalopolis like New York offers at every turn are some of the resources that Alejandro Cerutti masterfully employs in each of the pieces presented here. Like a meticulous craftsperson, the photographer leaves nothing to chance. Only the mastery of a sophisticated technique—demanding a level of meticulousness, knowledge, and skill verging on perfection—can yield a work that faithfully represents the concept of visual beauty.

“New York City” is the title of the exhibition that brings together works created by Cerutti between 2006 and 2016. These images capture scenes brimming with dynamism and sensuality in the public sphere: views of buildings, details, bridges, massive billboards, and a painstaking selection of the city’s creatures—pedestrians, street performers, and sparrows—set in motion by the ceaseless flow of traffic and the glow of urban lighting. All the wealth of signs that life in the Big Apple exhibits is captured by an artist-voyeur who watches unseen from behind his camera.

Just as the photographs of mirrored façades—where the city seems to reflect itself—suggest a contemporary version of the Narcissus myth or perhaps write a line about hedonism and self-knowledge, a close-up of a tiny sparrow perched on a twisted lamppost serves as a powerful question about solitary life in the city. At the same time, the photographer proposes a suggestive interplay between figure and background, through juxtapositions of harmonious individuals—portrayed unknowingly—against advertising billboards that serve as landscape, context, and scenery.

While the golden hues of dusk blend with the artificial gleam of city lights, deep blues anticipate the uncertainty of approaching night. Something happens to us, as viewers, in front of that silent scene where a single window barely shows a lit lamp: perhaps it is the effect of our own reflected gaze, a blink through which clarity filters. In this way, the artist explores multiple tonalities and temperatures, as if taking the city’s pulse. Workday scenes, movements, leisure activities, and moments of rest are always mediated by flashes from strange geographies—like dreams and imagination.

Each of the artist’s snapshots constitutes an autonomous visual exercise that can be appreciated as an independent work of art. Yet together, they are capable of translating the meaning of what we recognize as the “universal urban form,” expressed in fragmentation, anonymity, brilliance, crowds, transience, and contrasts of scale. Add to this the virtues of the printed photograph as an inexhaustible source of textures and subtleties—both in terms of form and meaning—and we have no choice but to surrender, allowing ourselves to be carried away by the charms and pleasures of the visual experience.