14 April 2017 – by Marcello Paolillo (Motion Pictures and Film Professional)
If a true artist is someone who dares to chase his/her own vision, no matter how crazy it might look like, Massimiliano Farina is definitely a remarkable one. He spent 725 days on the Rialto Bridge in Venice and took over 11K pictures to literally dissect and redefine the elusive concept of “picturesque”. His incredible project forces us to question concepts we tend to take for granted, and turns them upside down. The subject (the viewer) becomes the object of his research, as the point of view of one of the most photographed landscapes in the world explodes and multiplies in thousands of frames, similar and yet always different, just like the Marilyn Monroe portraits by Andy Warhol or the water lilies paintings by Claude Monet. Max’s feat addresses the age-old question of the human perception and reproduction of the “perfect landscape”, even more relevant today that smartphone cameras and social networks have turned us all into instant photographers. But most of all, it’s a beautiful tale of obsession and dedication that gave birth to an impressive exhibition and to a wonderful catalogue, beautifully designed by Elena Gullace.