From 5 to 10 December in the deconsecrated rectory of San Carpoforo, at the Brera Center in via Formentini 10 in Milan, Matteo Carassale will exhibit his personal photographic exhibition entitled "Fiori rubati". Matteo, who masterfully and artfully photographs the Gardens of Villa della Pergola since their opening in 2012, but of which Villa della Pergola and the Nove Restaurant can also boast his "hand" in their photographs, says on the occasion of his solo exhibition: "I love flowers, I have always taken care of them. During the pandemic I went around the villages of my Liguria to "steal" them everywhere: in the meadows, along the paths, even on the roads. At the time buying them in the shops was not possible. I I grabbed where I could. Then, in one of my thoughtful moments, I decided to portray them in the studio, removing them from the open air. I captured their essence by immortalizing them inside a vase, in a twilight atmosphere. An exhibition was born from this, Stolen Flowers, which can be seen from 5 to 10 December at the Blanchaert Gallery in via Formentini 10 in Milan". The exhibition, curated by the contemporary art gallerist and art critic Jean Blanchaert, with the coordination of Irina Eschenazi Focsaneanu, is an "intimate" journey among poppies, calla lilies, bansksiae roses, viburnums, mimosas, brooms, wisteria, medlar leaves and fig. An emotional journey between closed buds and open corollas, fleshy or just faded petals, erect or already reclining stems. Subjects portrayed from their beginning to the end, in the rapid cycle of life "as if wanting to exorcise the immobile time of forced confinement", in the words of Carassale. "A sort of time-lapse of the three stages of our existence: youth, adulthood, senility: this is how I describe the steps of a complete cycle, from vital explosion to decay". The photos featured in the event are 53, all small in size and all enclosed in old, sometimes ruined frames, almost like ex-votos. The technique used to create them does not require any post-production steps: the result is the result of his personal use of light and long exposure. "I invented a sort of photographic technique that we can define as shooting - he explains -. I wanted to give movement to something that has no movement, that is, photography. Blanchaert said of me that I am "a trans Bordigotto" because when I took these photographs of the head and hands went by themselves. True. Even today he still asks me if there are any flowers left in Bordighera. Yes, there are" (quotes from the article which appeared in the Corriere della Sera).
The exhibition Matteo Carassale - Stolen flowers Inauguration Tuesday 5 December, 5.00pm - 9.00pm Opening: from 5 December to 10 December 2023 Hours: 3.00pm – 7.00pm or by appointment Brera Centre, Church of San Carpoforo via Marco Formentini, 10 Milan