From Nan Goldin to Andres Serrano, a stark exhibition in Carrara on the transience of the human body. Photos

From Sept. 6 to Oct. 30, 2019, the Vôtre space at Palazzo Del Medico in Carrara will host the exhibition Corporale, a photography project by international authors dedicated to the theme of the transience of the body and consequently to the new human and aesthetic values embodied by the changes the body undergoes, its weaknesses, and its imperfections. The title of the exhibition is intended to pay homage to the book of the same name by writer and poet Paolo Volponi (Urbino, 1924 - Ancona, 1994), who wrote in Corporal that “everything is deeper and richer in meaning when one is not safe.” it is on this reflection that the exhibition, curated by Chiara Guidi, has gathered the works of nine artists, namely Jacopo Benassi, Edo Bertoglio, Lisetta Carmi, Mario Giacomelli, Andres Serrano, Masbedo, Erwin Olaf, Matteo Basilè and Nan Goldin.

Jacopo Benassi (La Spezia, 1970), a photographer of the underground scene with solid ties to the world of music, naturally photographs the human body by stripping it of all glam trappings and praising imperfection, which becomes an element of rupture. Edo Bertoglio (Lugano, 1951), a photographer and filmmaker, is present in the exhibition with his photographs documenting the New York of the 1980s, and in particular the New York of the music and graffiti worlds (Bertoglio shot a documentary, titled Downtown 81, dedicated to the life of Jean-Michel Basquiat, whom he also portrayed in numerous photos, some of which are on display at Vôtre). Lisetta Carmi (Genoa, 1924) made a series of photographs in the early 1960s in the historic center of her beloved Genoa, documenting and portraying the world of prostitution and transvestism: her reportage at the time caused a great scandal and was later also presented with a book, titled Travestiti and published in 1972 (the work was a precursor of today’s everyday problems related to gender identity). Mario Giacomelli (Senigallia, 1925 - 2000) is known for his photographs depicting a peasant Italy in black and white, and he dedicated a cycle of photographs to Cesare Pavese: it is entitled Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhi, and includes images made in rest homes for the elderly (which Giacomelli himself considered antechambers of death) in which portraits of abandoned faces consumed by time, disease and loneliness follow one another.

Andres Serrano (New York, 1950) since the 1990s has aroused continuous scandals with his photographs, since they are images often accused of blasphemy, mixing sacredness and death, insisting on the humors and fluids of the human body and placing themselves in continuous relation with the iconographies of art history handed down for centuries by the Catholic religion. The duo Masbedo (Niccolò Massazza, 1973; Iacopo Bedigoni, 1970) has made its mark on contemporary Italian art with its video art works and photographs: the works of Masbedo confront nature and art history in dialogues that are always unprecedented (for example, in a large installation from 2007, entitled Una costante perdita di magia, presented in the exhibition: here, the female body takes on monumental connotations and enters into a direct relationship with nature). Erwin Olaf (Hilversum, 1959), a Dutch artist, is famous for his advertising photographs and is present in the exhibition with a work taken from the monochrome cycle entitled Black: here, the human figure is immersed in the color in which the work is set, as is the case in Desirée, which features a woman dressed in blue and immersed in a blue background. Matteo Basilè (Rome, 1974) works with digital by placing the human figure in landscapes that are always suspended between natural and artificial, East and West. Finally, Nan Goldin (Washington, 1953), one of the most famous artists of the contemporary scene, who emerged with the Boston-based Five group, an LGBT activist, has been describing the daily life of the homosexual community since the 1980s, recounting its intimacy, its relationship with illness, and becoming famous in 1986 with her The ballad of sexual dependency.

Corporal is organized by Galleria Nicola Ricci in Carrara in collaboration with Galleria Pack in Milan and Galleria Francesca Minini in Milan. The exhibition has free admission. Hours: daily from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. Information: 338 4417145, e-mail associazionevotre@gmail.com, website www.votrespazicontemporanei.it. Below are photos of some of the works in the exhibition.

Nan Goldin, Chiclet doing her makeup (1991; cibachrome print, 100 x 70 cm)

Andres Serrano, Cabeza de vaca (1984; c-print, 114.8 x 165.1 cm)

Erwin Olaf, Desirée (1990-2002; lambda print, 134.5 x 100 cm)

Masbedo, A Constant Loss of Magic (2007; lambda print, 220 x 150 cm)

Matteo Basilè, Thisoriented #1 (2009; lambda print on paper mounted on aluminum, 177 x 125 cm)

Edo Bertoglio, Snooky Tate (1979; silver gelatin print on baryta paper, 45 x 45 cm)

From Nan Goldin to Andres Serrano, a stark exhibition in Carrara on the transience of the human body. Photos

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