Gianfranco Pezzot
1969
(ITALY)
ITALIAN
Gianfranco Pezzot is an Italian conceptual photographer who is interested in how various forces, such as history, economics, and instinct, affect the ways we construct and make use of our environment. His abstract work is an attempt at inventing new, contemporary photographic languages. He lives and works in Italy.
Education
Pezzot graduated from the Drama Academy of Venice, Italy.
Technique
In an effort to push the boundary of photography as an artistic medium, Pezzot has adopted an aesthetic strategy akin to assemblage, bringing various, possibly unrelated visual elements together in the construction of a new image.
His abstract series Dichotomy of a Human Brain is emblematic of this approach. It was created by combining fragments of photographs of flowers, beach landscapes, and crumpled sheets of paper, then using that assemblage as a ground for additional artistic interventions, such as drawn lines and scribbled text. The various images and mediums combine to create a complex, layered image, presented in its final form as a digital C-print.
Inspiration
Pezzot is inspired by the way the brain constructs narratives from different images. When those images are altered, restructured, or combined with other images, the narrative becomes less straightforward and more interesting to try to interpret. He is also influenced by the changing role of photography as a contemporary artistic medium. He wonders about the value of shooting direct, unambiguous pictures compared to the value of approaching photography from a more open, investigative, experimental, and multi-disciplined perspective.
Artist statement
About his series Dichotomy of a Human Brain, Pezzot says:
“[It] is about the eternal struggle between anthropological instincts and the deceit of language, seen through all the ages of a human life...the details and symbols have a remarkable narrative significance and contribute to the semantics of an image. This body of work is a composite made up of bits of hundred different pictures...It brings in the forefront of contemporary photography without boundaries or constraints.”
Collections
His photographs are included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Photographic Art in Kiyosato, Japan.
Exhibitions
Works by Pezzot have been exhibited throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including at the International Photography Festival in Lille, France, and the International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Florence, Italy.
Galleries
Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, New York
India Dickinson, London
William Atyeo, Malaysia
Decorate Your Wall With Some Purple Abstract Art!
The scarcity of the pigment extracted from the Mediterranean sea snails made the Tyrian purple early on abundant with superlatives - the most prestigious, admired, and expensive of all colors. Fro...
Read more
Why Liz Nielsen’s Photography Is So Unusual
Liz Nielsen is part photographer, part conjurer. She coaxes into existence vividly colored photograms from the pitch dark confines of her analog photographic dark room. The images that emerge out ...
Read more
Why Do Abstract Art Images Make us Feel so Good?
When you look at abstract art images, how do they make you feel? Do you find that they tend to cause you to have a visceral emotional response? Does abstract art make you feel happy? Does it make ...
Read more
The Far-Reaching Influence of Momentous Modern Abstract Paintings
Modern is tricky. If I say I want a modern apartment I mean one suited toward today’s lifestyle: one that’s wired, green, open and light-filled. If I say I love modern abstract paintings, I mean o...
Read more
