Personal Photo Exhibition
Lucca – San Micheletto Complex
Via Elisa 8 from 2 to 26 March 2023
Friday – Saturday – Sunday
10.00/12.30 – 15.00/19.30
Gps Photo Exhibition – 43.842832, 10.511407
Free entry
Local accessible and can also be visited by people with reduced motor or sensory capabilities.
70 photographs – Fine Art – in black and white, large format, mounted on 60×42 panels.
Borrowing from Maestro Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca”, the title of one of his most beautiful arias, Dantès embarked on a long and evocative black and white photographic journey in the province of Lucca, in search of arts and professions involving great people , undisputed masters of their art.
It is their eyes and gaze that leave their mark on the viewer, it is the frenzy of their hands – often immortalized deliberately in motion by the photographer’s camera – that dominates many of the shots, candid and light hands, as opposed to those experienced and sculpted by time , but all united by the perfection of a gesture performed thousands of times.
And here the photographic reportage becomes an intimate and silent dialogue between photographer and Maestro, an anthropological story in black and white from which one emerges emotionally enriched, so direct and engaging is it.
In Dantès’ shots you will immerse yourself in real environments, authentic and full of details, you will find yourself on a stage or a square, in a laboratory or a workshop, in a shop or a factory, in a field or on a dock; all in ambient light, without the aid of flashes, supplementary lights, panels and assistants. Nude, alive, tangible photography.
Dantès once again proves his ability to portray subjects and landscapes that have always been before our eyes, but showing them to us with a completely personal vision, as if they were a discovery from new points of view.
Words are not always able to tell, so it is the images that tell.
Henry Cartier Bresson claimed that taking a photograph means aligning the head, eye and heart and that it must contain the humanity of the moment.
With this series of images, Dantés expresses his desire to discover, the pleasure of telling stories, the desire to excite.
The di lui is a journey into a fascinating, enchanting world, that of artists and interpreters who create art, and of craftsmen who very often add an aesthetic value to their creations, a value that transcends their simple use.
When a craftsman goes beyond the simple creation of an object and creativity and vision take over his craft, the product of his work becomes a real work of art.
Also present in this exciting collection are farmers, breeders, fishermen who have made an art of cultivating the land, sheep farming and fishing.
In this narrative through images, the protagonists are women and men, with concentrated faces, participatory expressions, dynamic and appropriate postures and movements, hands with their fine and precise gestures that express passion, transport, dedication, enthusiasm with which they devote themselves to their businesses, some of which are in danger of disappearing.
Dantés has introduced himself silently into theatres, workshops, laboratories immortalizing women and men who know how to create from nothing with care and attention and perhaps there is nothing in the world that can give greater satisfaction.
Care, attention, inspiration that we find in Dantés’ photographs, black and white images that enhance the essentiality, authenticity, truthfulness of the story.
Raffaele Domenici
Free entry
All photos are accompanied by detailed captions on the photographed artist, his work and some curiosities.
It will also be possible to deepen the artistic and cultural information, free of charge, with your smartphone device, with the audio guide, which can be activated by reading the QR Code that accompanies each exhibited work
-Beatrice Venezi – Conductor – class of ’90
-StrOrchestra of Lucca
Beatrice Venezi is a conductor, pianist and composer from Lucca. She is one of the few women to conduct world-class orchestras and performers in theaters around the world. You graduated in piano in Siena in 2010, attending some masterclasses in piano interpretation and later in orchestral conducting at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan.
In the photo the rehearsals with the musical and cultural association – EstrOrchestra di Lucca for the symphonic lyrical concert of the charity evening in favor of the new Parkinson Lucca association on 18/06/2022.
It is the energy and passion of these young people that distinguish the group.
Chiara Santillo – Mosaicist – born in 1978
Chiara has been working for over fifteen years at “Poli Mosaici”, one of the most appreciated mosaic artists in Italy and Tuscany and precisely in the art city of Pietrasanta. The mosaic in the photo, which is only a part of the definitive one, is destined for the “Saint Paul Greek Orthodox Church” in Irvine in California. (U.S.A) When completed, it will measure 8×3 meters.
A special feature:
The pieces of the mosaics which are vitreous enamels, coming from the Venetian furnaces, are pre-assembled on the tables, subsequently joined in a special room that allows an overview. At the end they are again broken down into fractions, placed in special crates and shipped across the ocean, where the staff of the artistic workshop that made them will be waiting for them, for the final assembly in the chosen place.
Giuliano Pacini – Chef – born in 1942
Giuliano is the chef and co-owner with Franco Barbieri of the characteristic and ancient restaurant La Buca di S.Antonio, in the historic center of Lucca. He has been doing this job since the age of 11, where he alternated school with cooking, being able above all to count on the teaching of qualified Tuscan chefs and cooks including Mario Tartaglino, chef of Maestro Giacomo Puccini.
A curiosity:
Giuliano told me that the tordello from Lucca, now a dish with strictly quality products, such as meat, eggs, bread and spices, was actually born with not very noble cuts of meat, but above all leftovers that the peasants from Lucca had in their houses, so as not to waste anything.
Meri Pieri – Peasant – class of ’37
Meri, known in Barga (Lu) as “Meri dei Troni” is an extraordinary woman: dynamic, strong, cheerful, helpful, in love with her land and her animals, obtaining in exchange for so much devotion, their precious fruits .
She has been a farmer from an early age and got married at 17.
He gets up at the first light of dawn and with his “Bee”, after having loaded it with bales of hay, reaches the land he has owned for a lifetime and where he grows spelt, grapes, walnuts, chestnuts, hay for the its animals, vegetables from the garden and anything else the earth can offer.
Adolfo Agolini – Foundry modeller – born in 1952
The town of Pietrasanta (Lu) is considered “Little Athens” following the concentration of foundries and marble laboratories that produce the works of many international artists and where the watchword is still manual skill today. Adolfo is the owner of the Mariani foundry, where he has been making crafts for over sixty-five years, from the idea to the shape, from production to conservation. In the photos, the assembly of a statue by Fernando Botero.
The foundry collaborates with artists of the caliber of: Fernando Botero, Gustavo Aceves, Giuliano Vangi, Kirsten Ortwed, Bjoern Noergaard, Karen La Monte, Dashi Namdakov, Milo Manara, Igor Mitoraj, Daphne Dubarry, Peter Brandes and many others.
…the rest you can see at the Exhibition. I wait for you.
