José Manuel Ballester was commissioned to document the whole process of construction of Ciudad BBVA, the bank’s new headquarters and business centre. In this way, by means of photography, the artist acted as an insider eye-witness of what he has called “a new spatial benchmark” for the city of Madrid. 

The formal beauty of architecture is one of the driving forces in José Manuel Ballester’s output as an artist. At the same time as carrying out the commission to photograph the process of construction of Ciudad BBVA, the artist also took many images of its internal architecture, interested above all in the play of different planes, lights and shadows created by the slats used in the interior design. In his Nocturnos, the dark sky brings out the light of the large illuminated slats, on which one can note subtle nuances of grey tones. 

Light, space and time are the three mains axes around which the artist’s practice revolves. The passing of time comes into play here by capturing the change from day to night in a place so full of activity. In the artist’s own words, “the complexity of Ciudad BBVA gave me an opportunity to enter into contact with a model that clearly represents the form in which the future of our society is being organized.” 

This work of exquisite formal abstraction creates a powerful impression.