Uli Weber's shots on display in Palermo, from celebrities to landscapes

The Riso Museum of Contemporary and Modern Art in Palermo presents until May 15, 2022 the exhibition Seductions by photographer Uli Weber (Ulma, 1964) curated by Daniela Brignone in collaboration with Paola Colombari.

On display are fifty large-scale shots by the well-known German photographer made with refined printing techniques.

Weber’s soul, influenced by the models and lessons of the great masters of photography, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, dares to break out of preordained patterns at times, leaving room for a modernity in tune with man. Weber does not hide that hybridism focused on rules and minute details and the more humanistic conception of a representation of reality that investigates the values of existence, human beings and their relations with the world.

“Uli Weber creates a solemn and ordered space from which his worlds arise,” comments curator Daniela Brignone. “A kind of travelogue, steeped in wonder, instincts and infinite moments, which encapsulates the explorations that have fascinated him throughout his professional life.”

The exhibition tour kicks off with a series of portraits dedicated to the beauty of celebrities immortalized in their iconicity, in which the photographer captures the freshness and genuineness of a very young Kate Moss, the sensuality of Natalia Vodianova, or the satirical and ambivalent face of Boy George in the version of an affable devil. And the faces of well-known actors such as Jeremy Irons, Hugh Grant or Sting. “His squillant portraits question us about the need for a strong graphic sign stripped of superstructures,” says Museo Riso director Luigi Biondo. “From his images emerge timeless features that with three-dimensional material effects engage the senses and the mind.”

The third room is dedicated to the seduction of beauty in its countless languages.

Iconic portraiture in its pure form contrasts the landscapes of Basilicata with ancient and melancholic roots where Weber emphasizes the encounter between natural splendor and its desolation, as in the photo of Mount Pollino or Garden of the Gods. We find that same feeling of seduction in the author’s homage to femininity through a slightly erotic and sensual gaze that is captured in the framing of Alter Ego’s images.

The photographer’s eye captures the vibrancy of colors in the curvaceous body of a woman, portrayed with tattoos of the traditional Japanese art, Irezumi. Light is a key element for Uli Weber, as seen in the photos of the Salento Luminaries. The power of seductive beauty is also found in the dynamic interpretation of the Polo series photos, in which the mysterious relationship between man and the equine world is investigated, creating a statuesque aesthetic reminiscent of the classical Greek world.

For info: https://www.museoartecontemporanea.it/

Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Sundays and holidays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Closed Mondays.

Image: Uli Weber, Jeremy Irons (1993; private collection).

Uli Weber's shots on display in Palermo, from celebrities to landscapes

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