From the 23rd of February to the 23rd of March 2024, 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition entitled «LIGHTS UP» – Photographs by Gian Paolo Barbieri and Michel Haddi, at the new exhibition space “LA RAMPA” located in the exclusive and intimate art & design mall «Gallaria Sonne» in Silvaplana, in concomitance with Nomad St. Moritz.
La Rampa is set to be a space dedicated entirely to art, with singular architectural features enhanced by significant planning interventions, designed by the architect Alexander Bellman of the Gruppo C14 studio, who oversaw the lighting set-up project.
“The idea is an unexpected exhibition path which has been carved out by light inside a gigantic reinforced concrete block, where visitors can lose their sense of distance and time to focus on the works.” (Alexander Bellman, Gruppo C14 studio)
“The decision to open this space stems from our unwavering desire to find new sources of inspiration for our contribution to the dissemination and circulation of art and beauty. The Engadine is in itself a huge source of inspiration, and we hope this particular space in Silvaplana will be equally evocative.” (Diana Ricotti, Sonne Gallery)
“We immediately want to qualify «La Rampa» as a space for Art, a living and breathing space, a place to disseminate the expression of the changes and transformations under way in this vital segment of culture, i.e. art, which is now hanging in the balance between tradition and innovation more than ever before. With great emphasis on photography as a form of contemporary art undergoing an extraordinary evolution, an area in which our gallery has more than a decade of experience.” (Eugenio Calini, 29 Arts In Progress).
The exhibition presents a highly innovative selection of photographs by Gian Paolo Barbieri, winner of the 2018 Lucie Award for Best International Photographer (Outstanding Achievement in Fashion). It is a style of photography that is at once ironic and sophisticated, both rare and provocative, rich with references to art history, eclectic outdoor sets. Internationally recognised for his trademark black and white shots, his subjects appear almost unattainable in their sharp sophistication. Using colour, Barbieri recounts his own personal and ironic interpretation of fashion and feminine beauty: the women in the photographs on display free themselves from the more canonical poses of fashion photography instead becoming for the occasion spokeswomen of a new kind of unconventional elegance which reveals a more nonchalant, sensual side.
The exhibition continues with some of the most exemplary images of the French-Algerian photographer Michel Haddi with a career spanning more than 40 years, part of an endless archive of famous faces, top models, icons and legends from the worlds of music and art. From Liza Minelli to David Bowie, from Cameron Diaz to Jennifer Lopez and Angelina Jolie, including shots of Kate Moss and Uma Thurman. His take is intimate, personal and unconventional, just like much of his career, which is a far cry from that of a classic fashion photographer: having survived a troubled childhood, during which he clung to his dream of becoming a photographer, Haddi has dedicated his life to illustrating some of the key players in the historical and cultural changes of the last Century with a rare ability to capture, and then successfully replicate, the deepest essence of his subjects.
Haddi, which literally translates from the Semitic language as ‘the one who sees’, has succeeded in the difficult task of seeing, precisely, the true nature of the subjects who posed for him in front of his lens – actors, models or ordinary people – and to replicate their image, at times ironically and at other profoundly: all his photographs have a story to tell because they are authentic pictures, which play with the most common human emotions and, precisely for this reason, become indelible.
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