There’s a new gallery on Atlantic Avenue, F.L.O.A.T., and it wowed folks last Friday with its inaugural exhibition, showing work from crowd-pleaser Stefan Ruiz‘s The Factory of Dreams project.

More about the work:

A poor beautiful woman is rescued by a wealthy prince. Before they can happily live together both protagonists have to go through many obstacles and deal with many evil people. The plot is known as the “Cinderella” story, and Telenovelas are the Latin American soap operas that endlessly apply this plot to a hugely successful form of entertainment.

Called The Factory of Dreams, no one produces more telenovelas than Mexican’s Televisa studios. Telenovelas and its protagonists are a powerful vehicle to understand contemporary Latin American culture and its society. Stefan’s photographs of the factory of dreams and the people working in it disclose this secret world to us with humor and affection. All Images are shot in the Televisa Studios, Mexico City.

This is René Casados, in character for the soap Corazones Al Limite (Hearts’Limit). He’s Mexican but he was ‘discovered’ by the producers in a café in Paris. He has worked his way up at Televisa to a position of influence. He has a lot of say in what happens there and his liking us meant we got a lot more access than we would have had otherwise. As well as acting, he also worked as an image consultant for Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexico’s last president. He likes his cigars.

Televisa Studios, in the San Angel neighborhood of Mexico City, is called ‘The Factory of Dreams’ and is best known for its telenovelas – its soap operas. These fantasies of love, wealth and betrayal are one of Mexico’s largest exports, popular throughout Latin America but also in Africa, Asia, Europe and the USA. Former Televisa stars include Selma Hayek and Gael García Bernal. Rogelio Guerra who starred in Los Ricos También Lloran (The Rich Also Cry) – a show whose finale was watched by 70 percent of the population of Russia – once delivered the Russian New Year’s presidential address when Boris Yeltsin couldn’t make it.

All the images were shot 4×5 and hand-printed (real c-prints!), so they’re a treat to see in person. Check it out!

F.L.O.A.T. Gallery
539 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
646.239.8834

The show is curated by Caroll Taveras and Meagan Ziegler-Haynes.

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Somewhat related? The new cover of W Magazine. I just don’t know what to think…. I guess the point is that the picture looks like a Sears portrait?

I’m not convinced, Patrick.