French artist Edouard Manet famously said, “There are no lines in nature, only areas of colour, one against another.” Italian fine art photographer Fiorenzo Senese seems to be deeply inspired by this adage. After having a successful exhibition on this subject at the Piramal Art Gallery in November 2015, Senese is back with another show to celebrate the myriad identities of these simple yet complex figures in his second show, Lines from Mumbai to Venice . The exhibition, which opened last month at Jamaat, also commemorates the 18th anniversary of the Colaba art gallery. Interestingly, the works will also be showcased at the group exhibition Personal Structures held in Venice in context of the ‘Biennale Arte 2017’ from May 13 to November 26 this year.
Born in Rome and having lived in several Italian cities, Senese has made Mumbai his home since 2012. He started shooting in his teens with his father’s camera, which he still loves to use, beside the digital camera. He soon realised that photography was his true calling as he wanted to share technically good images as well as deeper emotions through his vision of the reality. The artiste, who has exhibited in Mumbai, New York, London, Istanbul and Perugia (Italy) in the past, says, “I have always considered photography as an art, so I shoot only when I am inspired.”
Senese has been fascinated with lines as it forms the base of many human concepts and structures. Communication lines, airlines, pipes, pillars, roads, bridges, cables and rails are a part of our daily lives where almost everything looks ordinary, even mundane and we don’t pay much attention to them. However, through his camera, Senese tries to show aesthetic details, where these ordinary lines create unexpected and suggestive effects. So cables symbolise the chaos caused by means of communication, pipes of a mall become part of an incredible machine, some structures look as if they are floating in space and a hotel corridor appears like a mysterious path. “Lines are present in our human concepts and structures. You can extract incredible details or perspectives from many linear structures and even create a new reality.”
This time, the photographer has added new photos he took during his stay in New York last year. “These images show the modern and architectural side of the concept and focus more on the conceptualisation of the picture. The biggest challenge sometimes is to be able to isolate exactly what you need. Since I shoot details, these are embedded in complex bigger structures, hidden in the dark, or in general placed in a difficult position to be shot.”
Senese plans to have a different take on wildlife photography by using coloured transparent glass. The 52-year-old follows a distinct philosophy, which ensures that he doesn’t depend too much on technology to enhance his works. “What thrills me most about photography is capturing the aesthetic essence of what lies in front of me. My images come from reality, so I don’t like to alter the scene. With Photoshop, I can easily merge different moments to get the desired results, but where is the poetry in that? I aspire to remain in the field of the pure photography.”
Lines from Mumbai to Venice is on atJamaat Art Gallery in Colaba, till tomorrow.
Published - March 15, 2017 12:43 am IST
