2019

 

 

2020

 

 

West, For There Are Two by David Halloran

West, For There Are Two explores the duality of the American wilderness and the creatures that inhabit it. Halloran has traversed what appear to be empty Western spaces, capturing them from both omnipresent and confined positions. Placing viewers above and within the landscape, Halloran’s work exposes the dynamism between the fixed horizon that separates mountain and sky, hills and clouds, and the stirring habitats of birds, chipmunks, and snakes.

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David Halloran is a photographer, writer, and editor living in Dallas, Texas. With a wanderlust-driven spirit, a bachelor’s in Photojournalism, and master’s in Journalism, he took his skills to Ink Publishing where he was the photo editor for American Airlines’ in-flight magazines for two years.
During his tenure with Ink, Halloran chased moose through the wilderness of Maine, worked with some of the best photographers and illustrators in the world, and drove Maseratis through the snow-covered Rockies, among many other adventures.

Corridoio Fiorentino, the gallery of the Digital Imaging and Visual Arts division of Florence University of the Arts – The American University of Florence (FUA-AUF), presents “Il Leone” by David Weiss.

This exhibit will be held online from April 30th until May 13th through a virtual exhibition hosted at corridoiofiorentino.it.

Works will include a special series of photographs that capture the famed professional Italian boxer Leonard Bundu, alias “Il Leone,” originally from Sierra Leone.

Bundu lives in Tuscany and represented the Italian Team at the 2000 Olympic Games where he defeated the world champion Daniel Geale. He has held multiple regional welterweight championships including the European title twice in 2011 and 2016.

In this photo exhibit the images reveal different moments that Leonard has had to face. Gaining a victory implies embarking on a journey, a story, and a beginning.

The series also underlines the decisions that individuals have to make, choices in life that in turn lead to our destiny.

The following courses and their respective FUA-AUF divisions have contributed to the event organization:

DIVA | DIGITAL IMAGING AND VISUAL ARTS

Exhibitor: David Andrè Weiss

Curators: Introduction to Creative Videomaking EL

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Florence University of the Arts – The American University of Florence (FUA-AUF) will open online, on corridoiofiorentino.it, the DIVA/IDEAS final Spring 2020 Semester student exhibit Eros and Logos: Between Reason and Pleasure. The exhibit will inaugurate on Thursday May 14, 2020.

The word Eros is simply rendered in English as “love,” but the term holds a greater and more passionate significance than such a simplification. Eros is a deeply sensual, erotic, sometimes irrational love. A love that can vary in intensity and interpretation for everyone. Just as love is passionate, so is creativity. Love can be so energetic that it is equivalent to vital life energy. Erotic and creative energy is a fundamental spiritual aspect of human life. But Eros can be chaotic, and it needs to be grounded to function effectively. The counterpart to Eros is Logos, the true principle of rationality. Logos grounds Eros but does not constrict it. Rather, it gives love objective interest and reason as why to use its energy.

In artistic endeavors, Eros and Logos are constantly working in tandem, whether one is aware of it or not. Creativity needs rationality and vice versa; communicating as the inner essence and outer expression. Art strives through creative purpose, and Eros and Logos personifies this scope in every detail. We can often forget that we all have a driving creative energy and often minimize this quality by assigning it to “artistic” beings. But we are all creative in our own ways, manifesting our Eros and Logos in a variety of mediums and areas. The courses selected for the final exhibit include Introduction to Digital Animation; Project for Sustainable Interior Design II; Digital Graphic Illustration; Introduction to Digital Photography; Interior Design Materials and Furnishing; Intermediate Interior Design; Introduction to Photography: From Darkroom to Digital; iPhoneography; Instant Communication: Words, Images, News; Landscape and Architectural Photography; Photojournalism; and Introduction to Fashion Photography.

The Coronavirus outbreak in the north of Italy started to panic all across the country. I found myself in a situation where my friends were all returning home, on by one, day by day. I decided to remain so I spent days saying goodbyes to all those people who never intended to leave.  I honestly did not know how to cope with the situation. At the time I didn’t understand why everyone had to be so overdramatic about things that did not affect them or maybe I did and I just didn’t want them to leave. This news created panic across the city and the evergreen streets of Florence suddenly turned into a graveyard. I barely recognized the streets anymore.  People are coming out only in the morning to shop at the supermarkets waiting in the line for hours. I would think how could they wait so patiently?  Were they not scared of tomorrow?  What about the mental stress due to all the distress? Can we manage to be by ourselves? What about not being able to have human contact and for how long?   While these questions stayed on the back of my head I came to accept that I have to live with it anyhow. I can regret and cry about it or make peace with it. I chose peace and that didn’t come so easily, I had to go through a cycle of repetitions where the previous day wasn’t much different from the present day. I had to rethink everything again and again, but when I did, when I came to understand that the things I am trying to control are forces beyond my capability, I began to accept it. There was a moment of peace within, A sense of clarity where I saw things for as they are separated from the thoughts that held me back. As though I distanced myself from my bubble. When I did so I was faced with a new challenge of asking myself the question once again, 

“ Who am I? ”

I began to build myself together from the basic, trying to build a whole. This chapter of my life majorly influenced by the  pandemic might have been hectic to a lot of people in a lot of ways but it helped to destroy who I was to rebuild myself a new me.

Tejas Balapalli | FUA-AUF Career Photography Student

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BACK TO WALL

This year, 2020, is a big year for the whole world. The Corona virus has affected everybody’s lives. It also affected mine, I had to leave my adopted home in Italy and return back to place of birth.

Yet a funny thing happened. I started to realize how important it is to be with the people I love and to appreciate them while they are still around. The world is changing every second and life was changed completely into something different within two weeks.

This project started the moment I had to leave Italy due to the virus. I decided to try to visualize the feelings I had as I was traveling back home.

I took a completely empty train from Florence to Rome and the first time I saw a completely empty Rome. It as if the city was inaialated.

When I arrived in Taiwan there was a huge contrast. Rome was empty but in Taiwan there were people everywhere.  Everyone was in mask.

That scene was like the end of the world, people escaped from dangerous countries back to Taiwan, with panicked faces. Due to the law I had to be sequestered in a room for a two week quarantine. In those two weeks I couldn’t see my family, I mean, they were allowed to bring me some foods but we barely had any body connection.

That time I felt lonely, the first time in life I desired so much to be with my family like when I was younger… a past life. From the time I was 13 I studied and worked away from home, I used to like being alone and independent. But the corona virus situation made me want to see my family badly and it put me in a depression.

After my quarantine I realized more about the importance of cherishing. To look at the Corona virus in a good way.  It gave me have chance to be with my family. When I look at them I realize they are already older.  Being away years and years from home, I realized made me miss them a lot and my sister just turned 18.  I could not believe this, I never participated in her growth and she became a big girl.

Alive is a gift, while a lot of people is dying, loosing people they love in the world, my life is so grateful.  I can be here, the land I was born in and with the people I love while they are still healthy.  I can have this chance to stop here, to look at them, to understand them more.

Alive, for me its just our individual feeling, the religion, family, and the nature environment.

When I returned I received a big surprise. My stepfather finally became our official father by law. Since I was 10, he met my mom and they started to be together.  Having no child, he took us as his daughters in blood and treated us even better than our real dad.

A childhood memorie. When mom just started dating my stepfather, there was a night when we went for a family trip. When we returned home I saw my real dad’s car was waiting outside.

My dad jumped out from his car with two golf clubs in hands, he started yelling and beating my mom and my stepfather.  in that moment, the only thing my stepfather did was to push us to the side and he ask my dad to go with him. He was without any weapons and he let my dad beat him until both of golf clubs broke. My dad left with satisfaction.  My stepfather was all in blood. Right at that moment I understood who would stay with us to protect us forever and he did.

For me, my stepfather is a hero. He was never a rich man but was willing to give me everything he could. He says he is not smart.  He couldn’t make lot of money but he would rather use his his hands and labor to build dreams for our family. He will be there and wont ever leave. He gave me all the love and he did everything my mom needed and never fought with us. Years and years passed.  My stepfather and my mom spent all their effort to fix the finance problem my dad left and finally, last year in 2019, they finished all of their debt and got married.

After a year of fighting in court, after I got home, we finally got the announcement that we are a real family under the law.

So 2020 for my family is remarkable. To record this amazing year, I choose their stories as my project. I made images of them to show who they are to me and how grateful I am to have them.

Chin Hu | FUA-AUF Career Photography Student

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Modern Peaks is a collection of photographs that incorporates many different photographic techniques and processes. Buildings are everywhere and people may not realize that they are their own works of art. Someone had to design it with the intention to be viewed and utilized. With this series I printed or rearranged buildings of contemporary and classic design to create a new space out of existing architectural forms. By utilizing the forms and textures of old and new buildings and then blending them together one may see the similarities and differences that are in one city alone. This collection of photographs is a look into what urban or rural architecture may look like as contemporary architecture design is becoming more popular. By looking at the parts of these rather innovative and futuristic structures we can get an idea as to how we might build our urban landscapes now and into the future. These images inspire one to look at more than just the building as a whole, but at the individual parts and the design that they embody.
In this way, my work parallels the multiple layers of perception involved in the experience of architectural space.
I enjoy the double take, the investigation that is needed to figure out just what it is that one is looking at. By transforming what is familiar and common around us I hope to reveal something more complex and mysterious. This draws attention to the ways that we construct the world by looking at it as it makes us question the origin or history of a building or style of architecture. When our perspective shifts or is distorted, new understanding and meaning becomes possible.

Joe Castellucci | FUA-AUF Photography Student

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How many times have you or someone you know felt anxious and in pain from societies hypocritical rules? How many times did you feel like screaming but couldn’t because you didn’t know what to say and how to say what you are feeling?

Take a moment and think about that, think about your pain and internal struggle with societies hollow laws. Let me ease your mind and tell you that you are not alone, you were never alone, in fact I invite you to join me, I invite you to scream with me and fight for what everyone wants, fight for love. However, this time we will do things differently, because if we fight love with destruction we will lose before we have started. This time we will fight love with love. Join me to face society in the face and scream that their narrow understanding of what they call unconditional love doesn’t have rules on who to love unconditionally.

Being vulnerable is never easy, but here I’m opening my wounds, my pain, and my struggles. An open book as they say. I didn’t choose who to love, as much as I didn’t choose what gender I was born. I love being a woman, and my heart also fell for one. How is that wrong? How is that societies know what is wrong and what is right for me? I could only think of one reason, is that they never felt what real love is. Therefore, I decided to show it to them. I invite you again, and together we will fight love with love.

M. | FUA-AUF Career Photography

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My series, “Throughout a Day” explores the world that we live in through the lens ofphotography and art across the span of a fictitious day, from an early sunny day, to an eerie streetat night. The environments are as alive as the people that are pictured in two of the images. Thetechniques explored are combinations of documentary and long exposure photography. Thiscombination allows for the story of a day to be formed, especially with the long exposures.The work I created spans over an evolution from early exploration of long exposurephotography which tended to always be at night, to more recently developing into day timeimagery as well. Some of my early night work is shown in the preceding image edits with moreimages. My night photography really began in high school when I used a lot of artificial lights toset my scenes, often using bright colors to create something more ethereal. They have taken theroute towards becoming more realistic, documentary images as they are now, rather than forgingsomething more fictitious as I used to. I became more recently inspired to switch and capture theworld through the lens of daytime because it really differs from night in terms of mood, eventsand people depicted. Daytime images required me to let go of some control that I always seem towant to hold on to through the precise process of long exposure, night photography. I washesitant to relinquish this control at first until I actually let go and did it, and I turned out creatingsome of my favorite images to date. This project serves to combine these two modes of imageryand have them compliment each other in a cohesive way, hence the documentary-like coveragefrom day to night.My work fits into an exhibition, purely as documentary landscape images as previouslymentioned. I picture the images being printed large, at least 16×20, to emphasize their beauty andto act as windows that viewers can peer out of towards this formulated, 24 hour range. The firstimage displayed closest to the entrance of the gallery would be the “Serene Hill” which depictswhat is said in the daytime and the last of the 10 images would be “No Longer With Us”,displaying an eerie night scene on a lone street. This way, when the viewers are exiting thegallery, they will pass by the images again in reverse order and glance at them again from adifferent perspective, as if it were nighttime becoming the next early morning and they wouldsubconsciously have in their mind that they’re entering their reality again from a freshperspective after viewing several series of artwork.My inspirations for the images come from my own process of creating this work overtime and how I shifted from one mood to the other solely through the process of subconsciouslycreating this, which in hindsight is the reason for it being what it is now. Before I even picked upa camera, I was the type of kid that would participate in most of his mischievous activities atnight with friends; I was always very comfortable in this setting and it kickstarted my work inthat environment in which I always found myself in. The work I created spans over an evolutionfrom early exploration of long exposure photography which tended to always be at night, to morerecently developing into day time imagery as well.

Rubén Pagán-Ramos| FUA-AUF Photography Student

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This is about a venerable moment in a common space. Each image is carefully curated to seem as if the model has taken control of her area because of her power and exposed self towards the camera. These strong women portray their confidence in myself as the photographer, and the way they are shown on camera. Many local people have been to these locations hundreds of times a day, but allowing to create ones own space in a public setting is very special.
This body of work are a various group of images taken from east and west coasts. The relationship between my love for both places are shown in the dedication and time put into the execution of each image. The paring of images are based on the setting and shot. I want to show the viewer the image at its full but also its most detail. The woman who star in my works are friends who I have made on the internet. Some I met for the first time on set and some are life long friends.
Colors and props are very prominent in these images because of how I want the viewer to feel. I purposefully have the dressing compliment the tones of the background so the model stands out in the foreground. Props are used to show the fun and flirtatious side of the images as well. It adds an element that many viewers did not know it needed until it was there.
My work for the past year has used a combination of revealing aspects and aesthetics hope to make an impact on the viewer. In the current state where many people believe this path has no relevance, I find myself returning back to the root where I found my niche in the first place. The context of the work with its location, style, and modeling, impact on the relationship as a whole.
My work ranges from all over the world. I find the props I use to emphasize the location and make it look natural. The angles of each image depend on what I am trying to tell in the whole picture. A wider shot to convey the scene, while a tight to show detail and precision. I focus on what is pleasing to the viewer in colors. My tones are very soft and vintage like. It transports the viewer into a realm in my eyes. There is movement in my images where the viewer can feel as if they could picture the behind the scenes themselves. My imagination runs wild as I wander through this lifetime looking at everyday places as if I could turn it into a place for my own creativity.

Amanda Burton | FUA-AUF Photography Student

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Flower Walk is a series of double exposures taken on expired film. The techniques are not special, and I didn’t arrange anything in the frame, and as the final image, I want to choose the square format for present it, to cut out the unnecessary outside the frames, and focus on the Flower itself – which is the main topic in this work. 

I have one semester in the past to learn about flowers anatomy, which was the part of my environmental studies program, and I always wander can they understand my speech? I have spent too many times to talk with those flowers when I was living alone, like real conversation, but they are not like animals, they cannot reply to me, and it is keeping inside my mind for so long about can they understand me? Do they want to talk back to me, but they cannot? Those kinds of questions make me wonder and wonder more about how the flowers react with this world, are they only blooming as that is the only reasons they live? How about those flowers that cannot bloom? Over and over those years, it quite makes me believe on the soul of the flower, as I perhaps believe on flowers have their own soul, like us. And I want to do one project for just express on what I think about those flowers.

            As a traveler, I mostly travel alone, explore the world outside by myself and as too many times I went around, I wonder how is it when you cannot move? I always see flowers and trees in many photos I took before, but they can’t move themselves. They are fixed in one location as we put them in, or they grew up themselves in that place. In my opinion, it is the sad life that they cannot see the world outside by themselves. Their views for their entire life are fixed in one frame, one view, literally they don’t have another view or another options, maybe their views are shaken by the wind, and then that’s it, nothing more. One time, I travelled with my film camera, and one expired film roll; and then I decided to invite those flowers I saw to join the journey with me. I want to have someone to explore my travel with me, remember where I have been through, and how things were around when I was there. I chose those flower in the botanic garden, as that was the time their blooming colorfully. The first layer in this whole series is focusing on the flowers, can be either horizontal or vertical. Then the second layer as double exposure was the routes I have been travelled during that specific of time. This project perhaps works like my diary on the journey with my friend (in this case – flowers).

Anh Nguyen | FUA-AUF Career Photography

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Opening: Thursday, September 3, from 6:30pm
 Miro Zero
Lorenzo Brini

Accompagnamento musicale:
String trio Water Music – Suite – G. F. Haendel 

In a dreamlike world imagined by Lorenzo Brini, tiny anthropomorphic figures create new ideas that sustain nature and the environment. The characters invent zero-impact tools that foster self-sustainability within their delicate ecosystem, the territory itself supplies the necessary resources for production and social systems without compromising systemic resilience – miro zero, aiming for zero.

I have always been attracted to what happens behind the curtain, where things come from, and “the hidden.” The camera is a tool for me to explore my curiosities, myths, childhood desires, and wishes. It can be a complicated visual process or something as seemingly-simple, as making portraits.

These are photographs of Florentine artisans. Not the typical inner-city artisans that are sought by tourists, driven by the Siren Song of the Instagram feed. Those artisans work in shops in small side streets that tourists safari into, hoping to catch a glimpse of “real” artisans working at their craft. Those interactions change the relationship between artisan and art, and between craft and consumer.

The artisans in these images aren’t working in the city center. They are found somewhere just outside the center. In this sense they are pure, untouched by the desire that someone will walk in and discover them. This is no back-lot film set designed to create the illusion of authenticity. Pampaloni and the workers are authentic. They are the real deal. They work in precious metal, create works of subtle beauty from a process that is anything but delicate. Fire, machining, ancient, roughly-hewn techniques bring about objects of refined and polished loveliness. The portraits are of the men who combine both labor and aesthetic, every day.

From pre-production to the final product of silver objects, silverware, goblets, candelabras, to awards/trophies made for the Oscars, there is always a touch, or better, a sense of whimsey or jest in their work. Even in the operation of their restaurant (yes, they also run a fine-dining restaurant at the same location), there is that game-play of Pampaloni art.

My approach to making these images was to be as formal as possible reverting back to images made by August Sandler in his portfolio, People of the 20th Century, but without claiming to represent “photographic neutrality,” which, as Susan Sontag rightly indicated, is pseudoscientific at best. Instead, I wanted to ensure that the point of view of the subject was communicated as clearly as possible, through Sandler’s idea of “exact photography” without retouching or any other manipulations of the images so that the viewer could ‘read’ the portraits as easily as possible.  In so doing, I decided to make these images using positive film and a large format camera. The process took me personally back to when an image was made at the moment the shutter was released.  E6 film doesn’t allow for any mistakes in exposure, and the large format camera does not allow an image to be made using methods of last-minute improvisation. There is no post-processing. Everything is done with intent as the shutter is pressed.

David Andrè Weiss

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Entropia (Tutto va come deve andare)

Mostra di Andrea Mancini

L’acquerello, o l’imprevedibilità della perfezione.

L’acquerello, nelle arti visive tradizionali, è la tecnica più sottovalutata e difficile che ci sia. Sottovalutata sin da bambini, quando regali la confezione con le pastiglie colorate e il pennellino, sottovalutata soprattutto da quei critici e galleristi che per un antico pregiudizio storico ritengono Oli, Acrilici, Alchidici, un migliore e più sicuro investimento in arte.

Difficile, perché come in nessuna altra tecnica l’acquerello richiede all’artista di mettersi a disposizione totale della imprevedibilità, dell’autonomia che questa tecnica richiede per dare il meglio di sé, per aspirare alla perfezione.

Non avrai mai due sfumature uguali, non sai mai dove e come sarà “la macchia” asciugando sulla carta… In altre parole l’acquerello non lo puoi controllare e devi imparare a lasciarti sorprendere dalla sua magia prima di dominarlo. Chi lo ha usato anche solo per diletto sa quanto questa proprietà spaventi e risulti frustrante al principiante come all’artista più consumato.
L’acquerello, per me, è la tecnica della leggerezza. Sin dai primi approcci l’ho sentito in sintonia con la mia maniera veloce e d’impressione, spesso volutamente non-finita. Forse per questo l’ho sempre preferito. Per l’immediatezza di espressione per raccontare un’emozione o per fermare l’attimo alla stessa velocità del pensiero. Con l’acquerello ho illustrato alcuni momenti del mio percorso artistico come fossero appunti scritti di getto. Talvolta sono stati frutto di mirati studi preliminari per arrivare a “quel” gesto, puro, estetico e sintetico (è il caso degli acquerelli creati per la moda o alle serie dei cantieri e degli accumuli). Ma la maggior parte di queste carte sono più spesso pezzi unici, non ripetuti, non studiati, quasi nel rispetto di un “ora e subito” che rendesse in un colpo solo l’estasi visionaria di un’immagine senza tanti filtri ma così, come mi veniva. Alla prima. Perché l’acquerello non ti consente pentimenti, e io – di lui – non mi sono mai pentito.
Queste tavole che vi presento sono come le pagine del mio diario, ognuna legata a momenti importanti della mia carriera, ad incontri e svolte professionali della mia vita che ne hanno tracciato il percorso con la stessa imprevedibilità e lo straordinario effetto a sorpresa di un pigmento sciolto in acqua.

Andrea Mancini
Andrea Mancini, è un illustratore e artista digitale. Diplomato in Grafica pubblicitaria e fotografia all’Istituto Statale d’arte di Firenze con un maestro dell’illustrazione italiana come Leonardo Mattioli, ha esordito sul “Sergente Kirk” dell’editore Ivaldi di Genova, su “Circus” per l’editore Glenat di Parigi, su “Frigidaire” e “Tempi Supplementari” (Primo Carnera Editore), e per diversi giornali della sua città come La Nazione Il Corriere e il Brivido Sportivo.

Nella sua operosa carriera di illustratore pubblicitario ha lavorato per clienti come Piaggio, ENI, FIAT, Barilla, National Geographic, Giunti Gruppo Editoriale, Menarini, Ricard, Absolut Vodka, Ferragamo, Lardini Filottrano.

Ha esposto le sue opere in numerose mostre personali in Italia e all’estero (L’ultima mostra nel 2019 a New York nello spazio 632 on Hudson).

Dal 2012 realizza i suoi acquerelli per lo stilista Massimo Alba e crea i digital paintings per le promo video animate di Mediaset (Italia Uno Freedom). Andrea Mancini è oggi un formatore e trainer professionale di artisti digitali (Wacom) e un educatore e divulgatore di anatomia artistica e tecniche tradizionali in scuole, accademie e già dal 2018, di workshop e corsi online.

Palazzo Villani Stiozzi Ridolfi/Cafaggio del Vescovo

Via Ricasoli 21 Firenze

Lunedì – Sabato 8:30-21:30

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