ARTURO DELLE DONNE
DE RERUM NATURAE

October 6th - November 17th 2012

 

Techincal Info

ARTURO DELLE DONNE
“De Rerum Naturae”

Opening reception: October 5th , 2012 from 6.30 pm to midnight.
Duration: October 6th - November 17th, 2012
Location: VISIONQUEST gallery Piazza Invrea 4 r, 16123 Genova, Italy
Tel.: +39 010 2468771 +39 339 7534993
Opening Hrs.: Wednesday, to Saturday 3.30 pm to 7.30 pm or by appointment tel. +39 3397534993
Website: www.visionquest.it
Email information: info@visionquest.it

VisionQuesT gallery is pleased to begin the 2012/2013 season by presenting “De Rerum Naturae” by Arturo Delle Donne. The opening reception on Friday 5th October is part of START, the event that marks the beginning of the new season for all the art galleries in Genova.

Press Release

In the 1st century b.C Titus Lucretius Carus with the didactic poem  “De Rerum Naturae” (On The Nature of Things) became the spokesman of the theories of Epicurus on the reality of nature and the role of mankind in an atomistic, materialistic and mechanistic universe. Man frees himself from the condition of need through the production of techniques, which in all cases are still a transpositions of nature. He stated that the rational knowledge of nature is underlined by an infinite universe that follows natural laws indifferent to the actions of man,  his despotic vision, his excesses and transpositions. The universe is made up of  atoms and void and man  is also composed of atoms that, once the body dies, scatter themselves in the universe, to be recycled by nature.

Just as Lucretius reminded humanity of their personal responsibility urging them  to take on an awareness of reality, a reality where man is the victim of passions, desires often difficult to understand and manage, Arturo Delle Donne in the latter part of the trilogy "The Last Breath on Earth" which explores the imagination through the past, present and future of humanity, brings on the same transposition of nature by emphasizing the relationship between food and culture, between science and art with an almost pictorial symbolism of the images –  one has the feeling of  being in front of comparative anatomy plates where through the discipline of synthesis and the comparison between the anatomical structures of the different groups of vertebrates, one tries to identify and analyze the causes of their form, their structural organization and their adaptations -.

The extreme simplicity of presentation (as in the other two sections of the trilogy) with a white background, devoid of any surroundings or disturbing elements, serves to focus the attention on the subject and to accentuate the position of the animal in a deterministic way within the life cycle made of interactions, in a continuous process of causes and effects. The animal becomes the prey, the inanimate being, a symbol of culture, food, basic need, an expression of life, condemned to death by necessity, in a continuous, ancestral relationship of love and hate, life and death.

This is an ambitious project that seeks to visually compose a synthesis between art and science, to reflect on the cultural and biological interactions that belong to our planet: photography in this case,  but the artistic expression in general, have a value only in that they provide a pleasant  and accessible version of the major mysteries of science to the mind?  Lucretius rendered this idea fully through the image of the sick child to whom a drink of bitter medicine is given by moistening with honey the rim of the glass.

In the thirteen photographs that compose "De Rerum Naturae" as well as in the entire trilogy, there is not an actual denunciation  but rather an exhortation to reflect on how important a raising of consciousness and responsibility is for the resources’ use and management and  the risk of a loss of diversity.  On the mistaken statement that the responsibility for these events belongs to entities beyond our reach; nothing comes from nothing just as things, our actions cannot vanish into nothing.

Clelia Belgrado

During the opening reception the book “The Last Breath on Earth”, Ed.. Plan. Will be presented.

 

printable version

Technical Info

13 photographs - C-print on Leger,  100X100 cm 
Captions: Scientific name of the animal in Latin
Edition of 7 + 2 a.p.

Bio

Professional photographer, a degree in biology and a PhD in ecology, he begins his career as a photo reporter by publishing a range of photo shoots for specialized magazines such as People Travel, Underwater World, Aqua and Whitestar / National Geographic.  While opening his Studio in Parma, he becomes interested in advertising and fashion. He has worked on several advertising campaigns and published in various national and international newspapers, including the cover of LUNA for Class Ed. In 2008.  In 2005, in collaboration with Solares Fondazione delle Arti in Parma, he takes on the photographic project "Black and White Portraits" with more than 50 portraits of celebrities from the art entertainment world, including Ernest Borgnine, Bernardo Bertolucci Daniel Pennac, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Hanna Schygulla, Edward Galeano, Gerard Depardieu, Emir Kusturica. 
In June 2008 he wins the first prize for creative professional photography in the food category and the jury defines him as an "Author with an out of the ordinary versatility“. At the end of April 2009 he presents his solo exhibition "Tribes" at Atelier Nascosti, Parma; the work is part of a larger and more ambitious project to be considered as the incipit for a trilogy "The Last Breath On Earth".   "Memes" the second part of the project was shown n 2010 at VisionQuesT gallery, Genova where in October 2012 the final section  "De Rerum Naturae”  will be presented. In October 2011  he was one of the four photographers participating  at “Chic Art Fair (FIAC) in Paris.  He edited the iconographic section of the book "Italian Taste" by ALMA – the International School of Italian Cuisine, editions Plan, which was released in March 2012.