April 24, 2025
Matías Sauter Morera
Pegamachos
Craig Krull Gallery
March 22 - May 3, 2025
Matías Sauter Morera
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate images requires the use of prompts. Certain phrases are fed into the computer that generate images the creator can choose from and then refine: for example "bird on a balcony." The prompts can be general or quite specific — a certain place, a date, an attitude, etc. There are trillions of images online and AI composites from these myriad sources to create a synthetic image, not a photograph — although the image could be presented as a printed photograph. The use of AI becomes more obvious as the images become more absurd. But what happens when the creator sets out to fabricate a realistic history of a culture that until now was undocumented?
In the past, it was believed that the photographer was a witness and that a photograph was a record of a moment— photography captured reality. That changed with digital tools because images could be adjusted, augmented and composed from multiple sources. The photograph was no longer an arbiter of truth. AI images in essence translate the work of others to illustrate an idea or a concept. It is up to the creator to harness what is delivered and refine the prompts until the desired outcome is met.
Matías Sauter Morera is an artist and a commercial photographer based between Berlin and Costa Rica. According to the bio on his website, "His work moves between documentary and fiction, exploring themes of identity, memory, and desire. He uses photography as a way to confront and create new realities." In his series New World Tropics, "he examined the emotional imprint of tropical nature on Costa Rican identity, challenging romanticized notions of paradise by embracing the contemporary jungle’s darkness, chaos, and mystery."
Interested in queer identity and the history of gay culture in Costa Rica, he embarked on a series of images — Pegamachos — that document interactions between rural cowboys and young gay men in the 1970s and 1980s. To create this body of work, Sauter Morera fused AI generated imagery and Photoshop compositing. The images in the gallery are coupled with hand written narratives, as they were originally posted on Instagram. Together, image and text present a little known history that may be a fiction, but also 'document' what might have been.
Pozitas (2024) is an image 'shot' at dusk of two men submerged in water just below their shoulders. One looks directly at the viewer, his body and face glistening. The second man is further back and presented in soft focus. The accompanying text reads: "Pozitas where things happened. Those were the natural pools located alongside Laguna de Gandoca. Families gathered during the weekends, but after 4 in the afternoon, when it emptied out, the atmosphere changed. Only tired local men remained. Frequented by hotel workers and muscular banana plantation workers, it served as a sanctuary to unwind and socialize with curious travelers. Nights were spent drinking beers and smoking in the darkness of a lush and provocative jungle, engaging in weekend conversations and sometimes doing a few other things." The image and text work together here to create a story about secret homosexual encounters.
Cruz Escarlata (2024) shows a cyan hued barn with a large sculpted crucifixion on the back wall. Light comes in from side windows and illuminates a young man dressed in a tight fitting shiny red faux leather jumpsuit who looks as if he is lost in prayer. Sauter Morera narrates the scene stating "….he would never beg again to bury that demon that clouded his judgment. Even the guy in the cross offered him no help. Dominated by desire, he would succumb to the pleasurable feast of his own demons and accept his dark path. A transformation that was not avoidable, and finally in a storm of suffering, he would ultimately embrace a delicious anarchy."
The cowboy depicted in Pink Cadillac (2023) looks suggestively at the viewer. He wears a pink cowboy hat as well as rings and bracelets that complement his pink satin pants and rhinestone studded cowboy shirt. He flaunts his homosexuality while displaying a tough guy stance through his posture.
Andres the Libanese of Sixaola (2024) is an image of a sweaty, muscular and tattooed young man wearing only orange athletic shorts seated on the stoop of a house illuminated from within with orange light. The narrative gives context to who he is. "They let red lights burn the windows, as one of the signals to invite other nighttime wanderers Pegamachos to enter. They were used more in the Caribbean area. Andrés was the son of a short Lebanese man from Sixaola, and he was one of those who could keep that light burning for several visitors in one night. Insatiable, he took advantage of the scarcity of boys like him, making sure to engage with the best traveling night wanderers crossing the border to Panama."Does it matter that Sauter Morera generates his images using AI? The images still resonate. They are enigmatic, dramatic, sensitive and formally beautiful. His use of photography suggests these were documented scenarios when they are fictional. In doing this, Sauter Morera presents a time and a place that was not recorded while celebrating what was and showing it as it might have been.
Pegamachos
Craig Krull Gallery
March 22 - May 3, 2025
Matías Sauter Morera
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate images requires the use of prompts. Certain phrases are fed into the computer that generate images the creator can choose from and then refine: for example "bird on a balcony." The prompts can be general or quite specific — a certain place, a date, an attitude, etc. There are trillions of images online and AI composites from these myriad sources to create a synthetic image, not a photograph — although the image could be presented as a printed photograph. The use of AI becomes more obvious as the images become more absurd. But what happens when the creator sets out to fabricate a realistic history of a culture that until now was undocumented?
In the past, it was believed that the photographer was a witness and that a photograph was a record of a moment— photography captured reality. That changed with digital tools because images could be adjusted, augmented and composed from multiple sources. The photograph was no longer an arbiter of truth. AI images in essence translate the work of others to illustrate an idea or a concept. It is up to the creator to harness what is delivered and refine the prompts until the desired outcome is met.
Matías Sauter Morera is an artist and a commercial photographer based between Berlin and Costa Rica. According to the bio on his website, "His work moves between documentary and fiction, exploring themes of identity, memory, and desire. He uses photography as a way to confront and create new realities." In his series New World Tropics, "he examined the emotional imprint of tropical nature on Costa Rican identity, challenging romanticized notions of paradise by embracing the contemporary jungle’s darkness, chaos, and mystery."
Interested in queer identity and the history of gay culture in Costa Rica, he embarked on a series of images — Pegamachos — that document interactions between rural cowboys and young gay men in the 1970s and 1980s. To create this body of work, Sauter Morera fused AI generated imagery and Photoshop compositing. The images in the gallery are coupled with hand written narratives, as they were originally posted on Instagram. Together, image and text present a little known history that may be a fiction, but also 'document' what might have been.
Pozitas (2024) is an image 'shot' at dusk of two men submerged in water just below their shoulders. One looks directly at the viewer, his body and face glistening. The second man is further back and presented in soft focus. The accompanying text reads: "Pozitas where things happened. Those were the natural pools located alongside Laguna de Gandoca. Families gathered during the weekends, but after 4 in the afternoon, when it emptied out, the atmosphere changed. Only tired local men remained. Frequented by hotel workers and muscular banana plantation workers, it served as a sanctuary to unwind and socialize with curious travelers. Nights were spent drinking beers and smoking in the darkness of a lush and provocative jungle, engaging in weekend conversations and sometimes doing a few other things." The image and text work together here to create a story about secret homosexual encounters.
Cruz Escarlata (2024) shows a cyan hued barn with a large sculpted crucifixion on the back wall. Light comes in from side windows and illuminates a young man dressed in a tight fitting shiny red faux leather jumpsuit who looks as if he is lost in prayer. Sauter Morera narrates the scene stating "….he would never beg again to bury that demon that clouded his judgment. Even the guy in the cross offered him no help. Dominated by desire, he would succumb to the pleasurable feast of his own demons and accept his dark path. A transformation that was not avoidable, and finally in a storm of suffering, he would ultimately embrace a delicious anarchy."
The cowboy depicted in Pink Cadillac (2023) looks suggestively at the viewer. He wears a pink cowboy hat as well as rings and bracelets that complement his pink satin pants and rhinestone studded cowboy shirt. He flaunts his homosexuality while displaying a tough guy stance through his posture.
Andres the Libanese of Sixaola (2024) is an image of a sweaty, muscular and tattooed young man wearing only orange athletic shorts seated on the stoop of a house illuminated from within with orange light. The narrative gives context to who he is. "They let red lights burn the windows, as one of the signals to invite other nighttime wanderers Pegamachos to enter. They were used more in the Caribbean area. Andrés was the son of a short Lebanese man from Sixaola, and he was one of those who could keep that light burning for several visitors in one night. Insatiable, he took advantage of the scarcity of boys like him, making sure to engage with the best traveling night wanderers crossing the border to Panama."Does it matter that Sauter Morera generates his images using AI? The images still resonate. They are enigmatic, dramatic, sensitive and formally beautiful. His use of photography suggests these were documented scenarios when they are fictional. In doing this, Sauter Morera presents a time and a place that was not recorded while celebrating what was and showing it as it might have been.