Scenescape
08.06.2024 - 24.11.2024
Scenescape is the twenty-third exhibition organized by the Rolla Foundation. Philip Rolla's introductory text explains the proposed theme: "By chance or by choice everything we see becomes a scene to our vision. This may be simple, almost nothing, complex, sophisticated or banal, but is a scene, maybe just for an instant, maybe over an elapsed time span and it becomes part of our visual memory.
Our collection contains many photographs of the very simplest nature, a tree, shrub, wall, a horizon profile, some almost nothing but each is a scene and contains a beauty which maybe cannot be described but that we can feel."
The authors are Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Vincenzo Castella, Giuseppe Chietera, Aline d'Auria, Ray K. Metzker, Linda Fregni Nagler, Jan Koster, Josef Koudelka, Francine Mury, Igor Ponti, Luciano Rigolini, Philip Rolla, Josef Sudek, Hiroshi Sugimoto, John Szarkowski and Fabio Tasca.
CATALOGUE
ARTWORKS
ARTISTS
VIDEO
Robert Adams
American photographer who has focused on the changing landscape of the American West recording there, in over fifty books. His work first came to prominence in the mid-1970s through his book The New West (1974) and his participation in the exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape in 1975. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize and the Hasselblad Award. He lives with his wife Kerstin in Astoria, Oregon, United States of America.
American photographer who has focused on the changing landscape of the American West recording there, in over fifty books. His work first came to prominence in the mid-1970s through his book The New West (1974) and his participation in the exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape in 1975. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize and the Hasselblad Award. He lives with his wife Kerstin in Astoria, Oregon, United States of America.
Lewis Baltz
He studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, and received an MFA from the Claremont Graduate School in 1971. He worked as a freelance photographer in California and taught photography at various institutions. His work has been included in major exhibitions, including New Topographics at the George Eastman House in 1975. He produced photographs in series focused on a particular theme or geographic area and usually published them in book form.
He studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, and received an MFA from the Claremont Graduate School in 1971. He worked as a freelance photographer in California and taught photography at various institutions. His work has been included in major exhibitions, including New Topographics at the George Eastman House in 1975. He produced photographs in series focused on a particular theme or geographic area and usually published them in book form.
Vincenzo Castella
Italian photographer, guitarist and filmmaker, in 1975, after studying Cultural Anthropology at "La Sapienza" University in Rome, he began his photographic activity. One of his most important works is Private Geography, color photographs of domestic interiors made between 1975 and 1982. In 1976 he took a trip through the southern United States, where he made, together with Lucio Maniscalchi, the 16mm film "Hammie Nixon's People," focusing on the colors and sounds of African American society. The most important works are "Nomadic Cities," about contemporary Western cities, and "Buildings," urban portraits shot from very high, but never aerial positions. Lives and works in Milan, Italy.
Italian photographer, guitarist and filmmaker, in 1975, after studying Cultural Anthropology at "La Sapienza" University in Rome, he began his photographic activity. One of his most important works is Private Geography, color photographs of domestic interiors made between 1975 and 1982. In 1976 he took a trip through the southern United States, where he made, together with Lucio Maniscalchi, the 16mm film "Hammie Nixon's People," focusing on the colors and sounds of African American society. The most important works are "Nomadic Cities," about contemporary Western cities, and "Buildings," urban portraits shot from very high, but never aerial positions. Lives and works in Milan, Italy.
Giuseppe Chietera
Architect, photographer. He has taken courses in photography at the City College of San Francisco in 1992, and later graduated from the School CFP Riccardo Bauer of Milan (2001). lives in Locarno, Switzerland.
Architect, photographer. He has taken courses in photography at the City College of San Francisco in 1992, and later graduated from the School CFP Riccardo Bauer of Milan (2001). lives in Locarno, Switzerland.
Aline D'Auria
She is an artist and designer living and working in Chiasso, Switzerland. After earning her first degrees from the Ecole d'Arts Visuels in Vevey and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, she graduated as a designer, specializing in video, from the Haute Ecole d'Arts et Design in Geneva. Since 2009 she has been a member of the Swiss Association for Contemporary Photography near and in 2015 she co-founded the cultural association Grande Velocità, based at Spazio Lampo in Chiasso, where she has collaborated as a curator.Her artistic research is dedicated to the most fleeting feelings of the human soul, revealing them under the surface, with delicacy and respect. Places become the emotional mirror of a humanity whose innermost thoughts Aline d'Auria tries to capture, while trying not to violate them.
She is an artist and designer living and working in Chiasso, Switzerland. After earning her first degrees from the Ecole d'Arts Visuels in Vevey and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, she graduated as a designer, specializing in video, from the Haute Ecole d'Arts et Design in Geneva. Since 2009 she has been a member of the Swiss Association for Contemporary Photography near and in 2015 she co-founded the cultural association Grande Velocità, based at Spazio Lampo in Chiasso, where she has collaborated as a curator.Her artistic research is dedicated to the most fleeting feelings of the human soul, revealing them under the surface, with delicacy and respect. Places become the emotional mirror of a humanity whose innermost thoughts Aline d'Auria tries to capture, while trying not to violate them.
Linda Fregni Nagler
Photographer who lives and works in Milan. There is a critical and reflective approach to the medium of photography in her work; she is interested in the representation of a particular era and its reality and draws on common nineteenth-century or first-half twentieth-century photographs to investigate its tradition, cultural changes, customs and iconographic patterns. The characteristics that Linda Fregni Nagler considers significant in photography of the period are: the deliberate use of artifice, which highlights the artifactual nature of photography itself, and the richness and creativity in the search for details.
Photographer who lives and works in Milan. There is a critical and reflective approach to the medium of photography in her work; she is interested in the representation of a particular era and its reality and draws on common nineteenth-century or first-half twentieth-century photographs to investigate its tradition, cultural changes, customs and iconographic patterns. The characteristics that Linda Fregni Nagler considers significant in photography of the period are: the deliberate use of artifice, which highlights the artifactual nature of photography itself, and the richness and creativity in the search for details.
Jan Koster
He studied history at the University of Amsterdam and photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He is known for his unique images representing the Dutch landscape.He has exhibited several times at Galerie Michael Janssen in Cologne, Módulo - Centro Difusor de Arte in Lisbon, and Galerie Paul Andriesse in Amsterdam.
He studied history at the University of Amsterdam and photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He is known for his unique images representing the Dutch landscape.He has exhibited several times at Galerie Michael Janssen in Cologne, Módulo - Centro Difusor de Arte in Lisbon, and Galerie Paul Andriesse in Amsterdam.
Josef Koudelka
He began photographing at a very young age. At only 12 years old through small jobs he managed to raise the money needed to purchase his first camera a 6x6 in bakelite. Without giving up photography, he decided to study aeronautical engineering. At university he meets photographer and critic Jiri Jenícek, who encourages him to show his work at the Semafor Theater in Prague. He graduated in 1961 and worked as an aeronautical engineer for 6 years before deciding to devote himself entirely to photography. His photographic testimony to the end of the Prague Spring is well known. In August 1968, awakened by a phone call he rushed into the streets as Warsaw Pact military forces entered Prague to suppress Czech reformism. Koudelka's negatives left Prague following clandestine channels. Thanks to the Magnum Photos agency, they were published in The Sunday Times, anonymously, marked only with the initials P.P., initials for Prague Photographer, in fear of retaliation against him and his family.
He began photographing at a very young age. At only 12 years old through small jobs he managed to raise the money needed to purchase his first camera a 6x6 in bakelite. Without giving up photography, he decided to study aeronautical engineering. At university he meets photographer and critic Jiri Jenícek, who encourages him to show his work at the Semafor Theater in Prague. He graduated in 1961 and worked as an aeronautical engineer for 6 years before deciding to devote himself entirely to photography. His photographic testimony to the end of the Prague Spring is well known. In August 1968, awakened by a phone call he rushed into the streets as Warsaw Pact military forces entered Prague to suppress Czech reformism. Koudelka's negatives left Prague following clandestine channels. Thanks to the Magnum Photos agency, they were published in The Sunday Times, anonymously, marked only with the initials P.P., initials for Prague Photographer, in fear of retaliation against him and his family.
Ray K. Metzker
Considered one of the great masters of American photography, Ray Metzker is known for his vigorously experimental style, including his creation of “multiples”, assemblages of printed strips and single-frame images. A student of Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind at Chicago’s Institute of Design, which was dubbed the “New Bauhaus” after it opened under the direction of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Metzker embraced the school’s avant-garde values.
Considered one of the great masters of American photography, Ray Metzker is known for his vigorously experimental style, including his creation of “multiples”, assemblages of printed strips and single-frame images. A student of Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind at Chicago’s Institute of Design, which was dubbed the “New Bauhaus” after it opened under the direction of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Metzker embraced the school’s avant-garde values.
Francine Mury
Since her beginnings she has favored research on color and form, papers, artist's books-understood as transcripts of mental states. Presence and absence, opacity and transparency, geometry and randomness, elements that are only seemingly contrasting, characterize the work.The reference to the natural world implicit in certain forms is made explicit in the chromatic range that characterizes the work, but the abstraction from the real datum distorts and exceeds the initial reference. Lives and works in Ticino.
Since her beginnings she has favored research on color and form, papers, artist's books-understood as transcripts of mental states. Presence and absence, opacity and transparency, geometry and randomness, elements that are only seemingly contrasting, characterize the work.The reference to the natural world implicit in certain forms is made explicit in the chromatic range that characterizes the work, but the abstraction from the real datum distorts and exceeds the initial reference. Lives and works in Ticino.
Igor Ponti
Igor Ponti is a Swiss photographer who began to develop his interest in photography while studying applied art. Over the years his work has focused on the photographic landscape and its relationship to the human environment. His images are part of private and institutional collections and have been shown in solo and private exhibitions.
Igor Ponti is a Swiss photographer who began to develop his interest in photography while studying applied art. Over the years his work has focused on the photographic landscape and its relationship to the human environment. His images are part of private and institutional collections and have been shown in solo and private exhibitions.
Luciano Rigolini
He studied film at the University of Paris VIII. In the early 1990s he attracted international attention with his Urban Landscapes. In 1995 he joined the documentary department of the European television channel Arte in Paris, where he was responsible for the creative development of art films until 2015. Since 2002 he has worked with photography exclusively through the appropriation and reinterpretation of amateur images and industrial documents. He has published several auteur books. He lives in Lugano, Switzerland.
He studied film at the University of Paris VIII. In the early 1990s he attracted international attention with his Urban Landscapes. In 1995 he joined the documentary department of the European television channel Arte in Paris, where he was responsible for the creative development of art films until 2015. Since 2002 he has worked with photography exclusively through the appropriation and reinterpretation of amateur images and industrial documents. He has published several auteur books. He lives in Lugano, Switzerland.
Philip Rolla
He graduated from Santa Clara University, and on finishing his studies in engineering and economics, understood that his destiny was not in working for a large American company, and decided for Europe. In 1962 he went to Turin and worked for the automobile manufacturer Frank Reisner as an apprentice until 1965. He moved to Canton Ticino in 1966. The proximity to three large lakes, and the presence of Como boat builder Angelo Molinari – whose friendship and instruction were fundamental – made it the perfect place to further develop his interest in marine propulsion, and there he founded Rolla Propellers. Philip Rolla has always photographed, mainly to document his work. He is a passionate collector of art and photography.
He graduated from Santa Clara University, and on finishing his studies in engineering and economics, understood that his destiny was not in working for a large American company, and decided for Europe. In 1962 he went to Turin and worked for the automobile manufacturer Frank Reisner as an apprentice until 1965. He moved to Canton Ticino in 1966. The proximity to three large lakes, and the presence of Como boat builder Angelo Molinari – whose friendship and instruction were fundamental – made it the perfect place to further develop his interest in marine propulsion, and there he founded Rolla Propellers. Philip Rolla has always photographed, mainly to document his work. He is a passionate collector of art and photography.
Josef Sudek
During World War I he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army in 1915 and served on the Italian front until he was wounded in 1916 in the right arm, resulting in the amputation of the limb at the shoulder. Already interested in photography in the years before the Great War, Josef Sudek deepened his skills during a three-year stay in the military hospital. His attention turns particularly to Prague, whose complex architecture he highlights, even in panoramic photographs, and which he almost always depicts devoid of people. There are many photographs devoted to everyday objects. His home provides him with the cue for a lifelong quest, the most common and simple objects and the natural light under which Sudek shoots take on in his images a romantic realistic style with which he distinguishes himself.
During World War I he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army in 1915 and served on the Italian front until he was wounded in 1916 in the right arm, resulting in the amputation of the limb at the shoulder. Already interested in photography in the years before the Great War, Josef Sudek deepened his skills during a three-year stay in the military hospital. His attention turns particularly to Prague, whose complex architecture he highlights, even in panoramic photographs, and which he almost always depicts devoid of people. There are many photographs devoted to everyday objects. His home provides him with the cue for a lifelong quest, the most common and simple objects and the natural light under which Sudek shoots take on in his images a romantic realistic style with which he distinguishes himself.
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer and artist. One of the most important exponents of contemporary photography, representative of serial photography inspired by minimalist and conceptual art in the tradition of Eastern sobriety and simplicity. Known for his rigor in reproducing meticulous black-and-white prints that he makes with a careful and sophisticated technique by handcrafting photographic emulsions that he exhibits at different and exclusive times and methods. He lives between Tokyo and New York.
Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer and artist. One of the most important exponents of contemporary photography, representative of serial photography inspired by minimalist and conceptual art in the tradition of Eastern sobriety and simplicity. Known for his rigor in reproducing meticulous black-and-white prints that he makes with a careful and sophisticated technique by handcrafting photographic emulsions that he exhibits at different and exclusive times and methods. He lives between Tokyo and New York.
John Szarkowski
Was a great photographer and important American curator who served as the visionary director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City from 1962 through 1991 and demonstrated that photography is an art form rather than just a means to document events.
Was a great photographer and important American curator who served as the visionary director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City from 1962 through 1991 and demonstrated that photography is an art form rather than just a means to document events.
Fabio Tasca
He received a degree in Slavic philology. He works as a photographer and translator in Como. During the early 90s, he began to work as a photographer for a few national newspapers. This was the beginning of a personal journey which brought him to discover architectural and landscape photography. Lives in Como, Italy.
He received a degree in Slavic philology. He works as a photographer and translator in Como. During the early 90s, he began to work as a photographer for a few national newspapers. This was the beginning of a personal journey which brought him to discover architectural and landscape photography. Lives in Como, Italy.
Size: 15 x 21 cm
Pages: 44 Softcover
Illustrations: 22 four-color print
Language: Italian/English
Edition: Fondazione Rolla, 2024
Pages: 44 Softcover
Illustrations: 22 four-color print
Language: Italian/English
Edition: Fondazione Rolla, 2024
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Scenescape