Photographer and artist in Tuscany
"Once upon a time there was a little boy who loved art. He admired the paintings of famous artists and drew his own dreams. He drew everything: trees, skies, houses, snowy and spring landscapes, animals and human beings. One day, while he was intent on drawing the sea, a tourist approached him. She liked the drawing so much that she asked him if she could buy it. The child was somewhat puzzled by the request, thought about it, and then gave it to her. The following year, the lady returned and met the child again. She had a brand new camera with her: a Pentax SLR with a 50mm lens, which she gave him, saying, "If you like drawing so much, try taking pictures too!" The child came home with eyes shining with excitement and showed the camera to his parents. For a few years he observed it without ever using it, until one day he returned to the beach where he used to draw. He loaded the camera with a black-and-white roll of film and took his first picture."
My name is Giuseppe Zanoni and I'm a professional photographer for more than 30 years.
The story you read above is clearly autobiographical and tells of my encounter with the camera, the moment my life changed.
From that instant my attraction to photography became greater and greater, and in time I began to desire to work as a photographer. My professional journey began in the 1990s in Florence, at that time I found work as a photographer for thephotojournalism agency of Massimo Sestini Florence.
The years with Massimo Sestini were exciting, an incredible whirlwind of experiences that will shape me forever. The comparison with the best Italian photographers, having lived through the last important period of Italian photojournalism (the magazine of reference was Epoca, which closed its doors in 1997) enriched my early experience as a photographer.
After the period with Massimo Sestini I felt it was time to start my own path and began freelancing. In addition to photojournalism, my desire to create artwork began to grow stronger and stronger; I began to train as a self-taught photographer and made my first photographic exhibitions.
The first successes with the exhibitions at Biennial of Contemporary Art in Castel S.Angelo in Rome and al Palace of the Permanent of Milan as a finalist for the Mondadori Art Award stimulated me to continue the path I had started.
In 2009 the meeting with the photographer Marco Delogu offered me a change of perspective, after the experience of photojournalism and the artistic path started I had a new possibility, to know the advertising photography.
Delogu was doing photo campaigns for large companies internationally, it was an opportunity to add an important brick to my professional skills. This experience will also be crucial for my artistic path because in 2010 I will make one of the most important works, "Caravaggio MMX", eight reinterpretations in contemporary photography of the same works by the great painter Caravaggio.
This work leads me to exhibit in numerous important places such as Medici Riccardi Palace in Florence and the Luzzetti Collection Museum of Grosseto.
In 2017, the Venice Civic Museums Foundation invites me to exhibit my "Judith and Holofernes" from the "Caravaggio MMX" series in the group exhibition "Around Klimt. Judith, heroism and seduction" at Candiani Cultural Center of Mestre.
The exhibition revolves around the work the "Judith II" of Gustav Klimt, coming from the International Gallery of Modern Art of Venice. In addition to Klimt's Judith, the exhibition includes works by very important painters including Edvard Munch And Egon Schiele. Along with Sarah Lucas And Rocco Norman we are the only contemporary authors invited.
Coming full circle, "the child who loved art and admired the paintings of famous artists" realizes his dream.
Today I live and work as a photographer in Grosseto, I have a photography studio dedicated to the wedding photography and of portrait and I teach photography atTraining Agency of the Antonio Rosmini State High School.
Main personal exhibitions and publications
2022 – "Caravaggio MMX”, Curated by Mauro Papa, Le Clarisse Cultural Center-Luzzetti Museum, Grosseto. Catalog edited by Tomaso Montanari. With the patronage of the Grosseto Cultura Foundation and the City of Grosseto.
2021 – "Perspective of Missing Instants”, Curated by Mauro Papa, Le Clarisse Cultural Center-Luzzetti Museum, Grosseto. With the patronage of the Grosseto Cultura Foundation and the City of Grosseto.
2017 – "The flowers I've never loved”, Curated by Mauro Papa, Le Clarisse Cultural Center-Luzzetti Museum, Grosseto. With the patronage of the Grosseto Cultura Foundation and the City of Grosseto.
2014 – "Caravaggio MMX”, Curated by Mauro Papa, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence. Catalog edited by Tomaso Montanari. With the patronage of the Province of Florence and the City of Florence.
2012 – "Caravaggio MMX”, Curated by Mauro Papa, Bigi Church, Grosseto. Catalog edited by Tomaso Montanari. With the patronage of the Province of Grosseto and the City of Grosseto.
2011- "Almost circular interstellar travel around a geocentric system”, Independent action during the Venice Biennale, 54. International Exhibition d'Art, Giardini della Biennale, Venice.
2011- "Supper at Emmaus”, Oratorio S. Stefano Protomartire, Palermo (Medal of Merit from the Sicily Region). With the patronage of the Sicily Region and the City of Palermo.
2010 – "Caravaggio MMX”, Ex Scuola Lombardo Radice Building, Porto Ercole. Catalog edited by Tomaso Montanari. With the patronage of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, the Region of Tuscany, the Province of Grosseto, the Municipality of Monte Argentario and the City of Caravaggio. With the participation of Canon and Fujifilm. Collateral exhibition to the event “Caravaggio - Chiuder la vita” on the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of the death of Michelangelo da Caravaggio, Church of San Erasmo, Porto Ercole. Curated by Valeria Merlini and Daniela Storti.
2008 – "Mosaicone”, Curated by Mauro Papa, Gallery of the Visual Arts Documentation Center, Grosseto. With the patronage of the Province of Grosseto and the City of Grosseto.
Main collective exhibitions and publications
2024 - "Dialogues. Contemporary artists confront the works of the Pinacoteca," curated by Claudia Gennari and Marta Paolini, Pinacoteca Civita di Follonica. Under the patronage of the City of Follonica, Museums of Maremma and Magma, Museum of Cast Iron Arts of Maremma.
2018 – "Extraordinary beauty”, Curated by Davide Sarchioni, with the collaboration of Maria Concetta Monaci and Dimitri Angelini. Il Frantoio Cultural Association, Palazzo Collacchioni, Capalbio. With the patronage of the Municipality of Capalbio.
2016 – "Around Klimt. Judith, Heroism and Seduction”, Curated by Gabriella Belli and Elisabetta Barisoni. Exhibition project by Pierluigi Pizzi. Venice Civic Museums Foundation, Candiani Cultural Center, Mestre. Catalog with contributions by Gabriella Belli, Flavio Caroli, Gian Piero Brunetta, Elisabetta Barisoni, Elena Marchetti and Matteo Piccolo.
2016 "Paratissima, Cumulus”Curated by Corradina Rosetti and Ylenia Rose Testore, Torino Esposizioni, Turin (symbolic work of the exhibition). Catalog edited by Alessia Messina.
2016 "Blueprints”, Curated by Roman Susan, Industrial Arts & Design Center, Chicago, USA.
2015 "Celeste Award, Deserting Reality," curated by Alberto Zordan, Elisa Ossino, Stefania Vasques, Spazio Ex Bazzi, Milan. Finalist.
2012 "Bases Award", edited by Silvia Petronici, Cava di Pietra, Roselle. Catalog edited by Barbara Madrigali. Finalist and honorable mention.
2009 "Wiesbadener Fototage”, Curated by Reinhard Berg and Frank Deubel, Wiesbadener Rathaus, Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst und das Kunsthaus, Wiesbaden. Catalog edited by Mathias Haupt.
2005 "Art Award", Mondadori Editore, Museo della Permanente, Milan. Finalist.
2004 "Intransito_ Biennale of Contemporary Art”, Curated by Andrea Bezziccheri, Castel S. Angelo, Rome. Catalog edited by Gabriele Mainetti.
2003 "'Federico Vender' Contemporary Photography Award ”, Curated by Fulvio De Pellegrin, Palazzo dei Panni, Arco. Catalog edited by Heidi Lichtenberger.
Collections
Acquired 2022. From the “Caravaggio MMX” series: Supper at Emmaus, Winning Love, Basket of Fruit, Narcissus, Portrait of Antonio Martelli, The Lute Player. Le Clarisse Cultural Center-Luzzetti Museum, Grosseto Cultura Foundation, Grosseto, Italy.
Acquired 2017. From the “Caravaggio MMX” series: Madonna dei Pellegrini. The Waiting OU. Local Health Authority Tuscany South East, Grosseto, Italy.
Acquired 2016. From the “Caravaggio MMX” series: Judith and Holofernes. Civic Museums of Venice Foundation, Venice, Italy.
Other publications
2016 "David Hockney, Secret Knowledge, Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters”Review by Francesco Mazzaferro
2015 "Caravaggio or primeiro photographer?”Thesis by Bruno Borghi De Freitas - Universidade de Sao Paulo Escola De Communicacoes and Artes
2013 "What Caravaggio would have painted today according to Giuseppe Zanoni - Interview”By Martina Podetti - Ninjamarketing
2013 "Contemporary Caravaggio, would paint like this today”The Republic of Florence, by Laura Montanari
2013 "Caravaggio: between Naturalism and photographic techniques”Thesis by Beatrice Mancini - Free Academy of Fine Arts - Florence
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