ARE YOU AN ICON, TOO?
Curated by Luigi Franchin and Viola Romoli
Claudio Abate, Berenice Abbott, Nobuyoshi Araki, Peter Beard, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gregory Crewdson, Mario De Biasi, Robert Doisneau, Alfred Eisenstadt, Elliott Erwitt, Ron Galella, Luigi Ghirri,
Mario Giacomelli, Gianfranco Gorgoni, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Yousuf Karsh, André Kertész, Alberto Korda, Richard Misrach, Vik Muniz, Tazio Secchiaroli, Elio Sorci, Wolfgang Tillmans, Oliviero Toscani, Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Minor White, Joel-Peter Witkin
12 MAY-30 SEPTEMBER 2023
Every single day we are bombarded more and more by images of famous and anonymous human beings, in public and private spheres and we should wonder if we ourselves have become iconic for someone, or we could be if photographed in a certain way.
Drooping eyes, half-open lips, fetish feet, crossed legs, talking hands: we could become an icon, but how can we really be one?
In the 21st Century, the tuna tataki with sliced avocado by a well-known chef steals space from the faces of great philosophers or thinkers, why?
We must ask ourselves this question before visiting the exhibition and find the answer after carefully observing the photographs of the great masters, who did not use their mobile phones compulsively immortalizing any image, but looked through an uncertain lens and captured something unique in a single instant and unrepeatable.
The Icon was born as a sacred image painted on wood or tablet which is subsequently embellished with gold, silver or precious stones, therefore something unique; we pass in the blink of an eye from the sacred to the profane with the advent of information technology: the icon becomes a small image that symbolically represents a command, a function or even a document or an operating program, which appears on the screen of a computer.
Just about 30 masters of photo-art, selected from the ones exhibited in Milan through the course of the last 40 years. They are all displayed from the 12th of May to the 9th of September at THE POOL NYC in via Santa Maria Fulcorina in Milan. From Jacques-Henri Lartigue to Gregory Crewdson, these pioneers of the art of photography tell us a story of the Twentieth Century. As a matter of fact the oldest picture in the show is a Lartigue dated 1912 and a Crewdson dated 1999 puts the word “end” to the last Century. Each of the photographers are represented by photo – icons which made a great impact in the visions of our modern social history.
Images which influenced new generations through the years, thus participating to a unique moment in history, “the triumph of photography in the new millenium”.
Some of the artists are very popular personalities such as Via Muniz, Nobuyoshi Araki, Oliviero Toscani, Henri Cartier – Bresson and, among others, the milanese photojournalist Mario De Biasi. Do not miss the opportunity to look at an original print of the Kiss at the Hotel de Ville by Doisneau or the famous portrait of Che Guevara by Korda and Brigitte Bardot on a WC in Cinecittà by Secchiaroli. More over two diptychs by the most relevant Italian photo-artists: Mario Giacomelli and Luigi Ghirri. Some of the works open up to experimental artistic methods such as the deadly reconstructions by Joel-Peter Witkin or some ambiguous digital manipulations by Inez Van Lamsweerde. Their camera is used to depict the thin border between theatre and reality, disavowing the conformism of a classic world. The exhibit opens a particular focus on some of the most popular genres when collecting modern photography: the obsessive research for the uniqueness of vintage materials with rare works by Mario Giacomelli, the constructed photographic metaphors with early pieces by Via Muniz and the relationship between art and documentation with a series of works by Claudio Abate recently passed away after living in close contact with artists such as De Chirico and Kounellis.