José Fiol. The Green Fog

“The Green Fog” is a new project by Mallorcan artist Jose Fiol, intertwining two seemingly unrelated events: the 1975 Wimbledon final and the cinematic reinterpretation of Vertigo (1958) in the experimental film The Green Fog, directed by Guy Maddin. Fiol uses these events as a starting point to explore how history, cinema and sports can interrelate through the cut-up technique, creating new narratives and meanings.

The 1975 Wimbledon final is a milestone in tennis history, where Arthur Ashe, a prominent tennis player and human rights activist, defeated Jimmy Connors, becoming the first and only African American male tennis player to win this prestigious tournament. This confrontation was more than just a sports duel; it represented a clash between two playing styles and, more broadly, between two worldviews. Ashe, with his strategic, tactical approach and sportsmanship, faced Connors’ aggressive, hard-hitting style, who at the time was the world’s number one player. Despite never having won a set in their previous encounters, Ashe devised a clever strategy that completely disarmed his opponent, leading to a historic victory with scores of 6–1, 6–1, 5–7, and 6–4.

On the other hand, The Green Fog is a reinterpretation of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Vertigo, constructed from fragments of old films and TV series shot in San Francisco. This technique, known as cut-up, is a way of making the familiar seem unfamiliar, turning the known into something strange and surprising. With each juxtaposed fragment, Maddin immerses us in a visual whirlwind, where each scene seems to fade into the next, like a green fog that envelops and confounds.

It is precisely this green fog that seems to envelop Fiol’s project, as he decides to unite these two worlds in a series of triptychs representing the outcome of that legendary Wimbledon final, merging images from matches and Maddin’s experimental film. Es Baluard’s Exhibition Hall D is bathed in an aura of surrealism and mystery, as if the spirits of Vertigo and Wimbledon ‘75 were whispering in the air.

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José Fiol (Palma, Mallorca, 1978) is a visual artist whose work is recognised for his ability to explore and resignify collective memory through the reconfiguration of images. His studies at the Centro de Estudios Fotográficos in Palma marked the beginning of a path along which the use of archival material and visual resignification became the foundations of his work. Based on an approach that mixes pictorial figurative collage and conceptual collage, Fiol has created an artistic space where images become catalysts for new interpretations and contemporary discourses.

His work has been presented in exhibitions both nationally and internationally. His solo projects include the 34th Sant Marçal Painting Contest in Marratxí (2023) and exhibitions held at Galeria Fran Reus in Palma (2022 and 2019). Fiol’s work has also participated in important group exhibitions held at Es Baluard Museu (2019), Casal Solleric (2019) and the Whitebox Art Center in Beijing (2018).

He has received several grants and awards, including the Creation Grant from the Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics (2022), the 10th Vila de Santanyí Francisco Bernareggi Prize for Visual Arts (2022), the 34th Sant Marçal Painting Contest award (2021), the Creation and Research Grant from the Palma City Council and Fundació Joan Miró (2020) and the artist residency at the Whitebox Art Center in Beijing (2018).