Life

Another image created for a course that, sadly, I had not the  chance to finish ... by the way this was the project related to the 'images' section of the course and the context was: making an installation for a museum where an exhibition about the theme of the globalization was going to be held. Here follows the statment introducing and explaining the main characteristics of the work:

" Today is easy to have a 'global dimension': chat, photo, video, news are available on the net, and reaching distant countries is not difficult task ... but ... in my experience ... all of this does not create a proportional better understanding of other countries, in fact it seems to level the differences going toward a global unawareness .

Easy to reach or easy to know about, is different from understanding new people or places.

Thus this work: a common wall and a window representing our lives (that frequently we consider nothing special), and the window looking to the outer world . What we see through the window is shining and dreamy in its difference and distance from our everyday lives, a sort of 'hologram' of famous places where people is optional. But, finding a common language, and trying to understand we can 'touch' the world and bypass the hologram. Doing so we shift the focus from the place to the people and finally to the interaction between them, growing from 'tourism' to knowledge.

So no target for communication into the image, it is our duty to find a way that can work globally.

For this version of the work the single image has to be placed on a wall facing an entrance door. Lighting of the room: ambience dim and two/three spots reproducing the light on the writings and on the holograms.

Note: building this work as a multimedia installation, where a multi screen, touch panel, recreates the space and the holograms, could give the viewer a way to really touch the 'world', bringing on screen, in the section touched, a sequence of local everyday life with its sounds and speeches. Multiple sequences can be active simultaneously creating a mix of languages and activities. "

Duality

Now a bit of graphic and photo editing.
The final composition , was stated, should have some text in it but not explicitly related to the main theme of the image.
My subject was the concept of duality of man: both aggressive and peaceful, builder and destroyer, barbarian and scholar...and how this duality transfers into human activities, like art. So I choose two photos from my archive: one a cerimonial plate of armor, exposed at the Ermitage, the other one the Michelangelo's David, in Florence, this photo is of the copy you can see in Piazza della Signoria. Two different pieces that mix aesthetic and aggresivity, even if in different ways and on different levels.
The armor is made for war, but aspires to a higher status than a tool and tries to became a sort of jewel: a master piece of highly skilled craftsmen, and in doing so looses the capability of beeing used for its initial pourpose, a cerimanial armor, usually, is not very good in real battles. On the other side the David. This is an icon of beauty and elegance, but in all its calm and self confidence, it represents a warrior that is going to face the hardest enemy he has ever met. So this statue can be seen as a message that points to a certain type of strength and use of the force that suits perfectly the context of the city where and at the time it was made.
For my pourpose they match greatly even the contrast between Giulio II and Michelangelo. The first one was a kind of pope quite unusual for today's standards: strong politician, leading campaign and battles, but lover of the beauty. The other a genius capable of giving a shape to the concept of beauty, transferring in it his strong, and aggressive will. Quite a match one for the other.
Lastly, the two images and their mix, match even the struggle of the single artist that tries to shape his feelings to create his art. Balancing the strength of the need of creating something, to the need of making it understandable and aestethically percetible.
So considering this three levels and points of view, I think it is quite clear why: 'Reality is never simple'.

Note: both the photo are modified to achieve a graphic style aiming to increase the contrast between the two halves, thus the use of the black and white. The background is a third photo from my archive: of a sunset sky whose colors increase the mood of urgency and struggle of the image.

Evil Squirrel

Here is an exercise in photo-composition.
No, no there is nothing about devil, demons and hell, at least, not in a 'serious' way:
this little guy is really a small demon from a fire plane of existence ... but he runs into the woods at dusk, when you can be so lucky to meet him, searching for food, like nuts or peanuts, and can conjure fire to ... toast them! Unfortunately he is quite selfish and wan't think about the risks of starting a fire just to cook his food.
So he is quite just an excuse for speaking to children about avoiding free fires into woods ;)
Below the materials used for the composition.