Marco Lanza. Ricreazione

Noema Gallery in Rome kicks off the 2023 exhibition season with the new photographic exhibition "Ricreazione" by Marco Lanza curated by Chiara Dall'Olio, which can be visited from 26 January to 25 February.

Marco Lanza's exhibition project, born from the purchase of thousands of loose vernacular photographs, developed with the observation of each single image. From sepia photographs of a mountain vacation to millimeter moments of father and daughter, from shots of a conference to family or sporting events, these materials cover a long period, from approximately 1920 to 1970.

Following the lines of the new selection, Lanza cut the photographs through a rectangular or square Plexiglas mask and recomposing them, he obtained new works, literally extracted from the originals. A reinterpretation that acts on the material, changing it forever. A recreation that takes place both on the selected part and on what remains, an apparent waste that becomes an open work, endowed with infinite interpretative possibilities. Some prints are instead presented intact, but superimposed. In these paintings, the stratification of the photographic material refers to history with a small "s", to family stories, of which only the surface is perceived. Each photograph of the "Recreation" exhibition is therefore the sign of a story, of a past moment, which will no longer be and which is cloaked in a patina of nostalgia.

As the curator of the project Chiara Dall'Olio writes, "The compositions follow the criteria and steps that the artist has followed: large tableaus in which the details that caught his eye, after being cut out, were mixed and recomposed, creating a visual harmony of great balance. Only by getting closer can you grasp the subjects and get lost in the contemplation of the small photos, imagining stories or wondering what the complete photograph would have been like. In fact, the cut creates a plurality of autonomous objects, endowed with a new aesthetic and new interpretative possibilities that Lanza allows the observer to explore".

Marco Lanza took part in the latest edition of Paris Photo – one of the most important photographic fairs in the world – where all his works have been acquired by collectors in the sector, also enjoying great success with the public and critics, so as to arrive on the pages of the well-known newspaper Le Monde which dedicated a long article to his work and to the galleries which brought to the fair works born from images whose author is unknown. Prints found in flea markets or in boxes passed from hand to hand through removals and inheritances, photographs purchased for little money and then, once processed and organized into an organic project, re-proposed for the occasion at the fair as collector's items, just like the original works of Marco Lanza. Vernacular photography and its reinterpretation are experiencing a new revival among collectors and gallery owners, acquiring a leading role in the international art market. Confirming this strong worldwide interest, Marco Lanza will be, after the exhibition at the Noema Gallery, one of the artists of The Photography Show in New York (from 30 March to 2 April 2023) organized by AIPAD, in which he will participate with the Parisian gallery SIT DOWN.... read the rest of the article»