29/07/2011






Paolo Ventura

Paolo Ventura’s remarkable dioramas, which evoke a strange and often imaginary past, are conceived and created on two very ordinary tables at his Brooklyn studio. An Italian expat, Ventura deals with his homesickness by presenting memories, in turn coherent and fragmented, from his own past and his country’s. For Ventura, the past is not just something to be remembered, but also something to be reinterpreted and manipulated, very much like the action figures that dominate his photographs. He notes, "You can really have fun with the past."
Ventura’s "invented worlds," as he refers to his work, start with notes or rough sketches of a particular scenario he has imagined. Once the concept is established, he then builds the set. The detail is extraordinary, from the folds in the clothes of the little figures, to the artfully arranged props, to the precise way the light and shadow play out in his pictures.

Yet surprisingly, he spends only a week to 10 days building the set, at an average cost of around $30. He uses foam board, cardboard, plastic, and wood — basically, anything that he can get hold of. Asked where he got his handy skills, he laughs. "It’s a mystery," he says. "I was a disaster at everything in school. Originally, I set out to find things, but I soon realized that I knew exactly what I wanted, so it would just be easier to make it myself." He sometimes also buys props online from specialist dealers, his local Brooklyn flea market, and costume stores, and relies on a network of miniatures obsessives, who send him props they’ve made or collected.

Once the set is completed, Ventura takes Polaroids to use as a reference for minor adjustments. He then shoots with a Pentax 6x7 camera from a fixed position, using only natural daylight, preferring to capture the scene on slightly overcast days. His happiest memories growing up in Milan were of winter mornings when the fog enveloped the city and distorted the commonplace. In each image, Ventura wants to create his own fog and blend the artifice with the "real."





Mae Ryan





Bryan Schutmaat

28/07/2011






David Hilliard





Marijke van Warmerdam
SERÁ QUE EXISTEM LIVROS DE FOTOGRAFIA EM PORTUGAL ?

Na próxima 6ª feira terminamos a residência temporária da STET no Bes e gostávamos de comemorar esta primeira STET Fora de Portas com um fim de tarde passado à conversa com fotógrafos .


Por isso convidámos vários fotógrafos para virem debater se EXISTEM LIVROS DE FOTOGRAFIA EM PORTUGAL, assinar os seus livros e beber um copo de vinho do nosso patrocinador habitual. Vamos estar com o Antonio Julio Duarte, Andre Príncipe, Catarina Botelho, Filipe Casaca, Jose Luis Neto, Pedro Letria + Paulo Catrica

STET fora de portas 1 – Conversa e Booksigning
6ª feira dia 29
18.30h/20.30h

BES Arte e Finança
Prç. Marques do Pombal, 4
Lisboa





Félix Curto

27/07/2011

What I'm reading these days !!!



 







Matador es un nuevo concepto de revista. Aporta una mirada singular y nace, al borde del tercer milenio, con la intención de abrir el debate cultural. Un símbolo para este fin de siglo. Concebida y realizada en España, Matador es una revista plenamente internacional. Su realización está en manos de las mejores firmas. Fotógrafos, escritores y artistas son los autores de un producto único, en el que la calidad de los textos y la fuerza de las imágenes han sido una obsesión. Su cuidada elaboración y su campo de actuación la convierten en un objeto de culto. El proyecto de Matador es radical. Un sólo número al año. 3.000 ejemplares para socios y otros 4.000 para venta en librerías especializadas y museos y el compromiso de editar 28 volúmenes, durante 28 años, en el periodo que va desde 1995 hasta el 2022.


Matador

Matador is a new concept of magazine. It offers an unusual viewpoint and has come into being right on the verge of the third millennium, with the aim of opening up cultural debate. It is, in fact, a symbol for the end of the century. Though designed and produced in Spain, Matador is a wholly international magazine. Production of the magazine is in the hands of the best names in the business Photographers, writers and artists are the authors of a unique product in which the quality of the texts and the force of the images have been an obsession. Its careful production and its field of action have made it into a kind of shrine within its field. Matador’s aim is a radical one with only one issue a year, three thousand copies for partners nad another four thousand for bookselling, and the commitment to publish 28 volumes over the course of 28 years in the period from 1995 to the year 2022.


Miquel Barceló
Número 15-N
2010
 






Manabu Yamanaka

From the series Gyahtei





Marcos Lopez

25/07/2011