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Photographs: ITALIAN ICONS

Wednesday 18 June 2025, 04:00 PM • Milan

19

Vincenzo Castella

(1952)

Napoli, 1985

Artist's Resale Right

Estimate

€ 1.200 - 1.800

Sold

€ 1.290

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

Vintage chromogenic print
cm 29,8 x 41,5 (cm 26,7 x 33,8 picture) | 11.7 x 16.3 in. (10.5 x 13.3 in. picture)
Monog. VC and dated in pencil with photographer's credit blindstamp on the lower white recto margin

Literature

I. Bignardi (edited by), Zone: Vincenzo Castella, Art&, 1991, p. 91
A. C. Quintavalle (edited by), Muri di carta, Electa, Milan, 1993, p. 287
D. M. Pagano (edited by), Blow up - la fotografia a Napoli 1980-1990, artem, 2014
Vincenzo Castella (Naples 1952) is an author of a thousand interests as evidenced by his degree in Cultural Anthropology. A professional guitarist, director in 1976 of the film “Hammie Nixon's People” shot in the U.S. on blues culture, it is in the field of photography that he establishes himself with cultured references ranging from Paul Strand to James Joyce that guide him in a research on cities such as his native Naples and Milan where he lives. In this role he participated in 1984 with some images of interiors and one of exteriors in the project “Viaggio in Italia,” developing since then an interest in urban space that characterizes the most recent works exhibited in international exhibitions published in books and magazines. 

These two views of Naples well explain the expressive approach that characterizes Vincenzo Castella's vision. The outdoor shot is all played out on perspective planes: the first, that of the terrace surrounded by a wall, brings us closer to the statue that stands almost in the void and reminds us of the rock that emerges from the sea caressed by the froth of the waves crashing against it. It is Castella himself who reminds us that panoramas of this kind do not correspond to the movements of the eye because visions like his must be lucidly aseptic. The second photograph presented here is also indicative of another aspect dear to the photographer: the lighting. This enriches the subject-in this case, a simple wall from which three framed images hang awkwardly exposed - not because it is illuminated, but because it is observed from a new angle.   

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