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MARCOROSSI
artecontemporanea

 

Paolo Ventura

Bio           Exhibitions           Works           Gallery exhibitions           News

Paolo Ventura was born in Milan in 1968. His father, Pietro, was a famous illustrator of children’s books in the ’seventies and ’eighties.  He studied at Brera fine arts academy and worked as a fashion photographer for many years, collaborating with acclaimed fashion magazines such as Elle, Marie Claire and Vogue before moving to New York.

In his tiny studio in Brooklyn, he started to put together and photograph little dioramas inspired by the Second World War, producing the images that were shown in his first solo show, at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler Gallery in 2006. In the following year the BBC included his work in a documentary on the history of photography, The Genius of Photography.
Ventura began to construct handcrafted scenes populated by puppets, little stage sets painstakingly made by hand using recycled materials evoking days gone by, in which the photograph represents the final act in a complex creative process. His scenes sometimes become true photo sets, in which the artist becomes a part of the fantastic world he creates, portraying himself or his family as characters in the stories he creates in his photographs, combining them with painting and collage.

The complex process of creation of his works involves a fascinating combination of historical research, handcrafting, manual work, scenographic composition, photography and painting.

Ever since his days in New York, Paolo Ventura has exhibited in prestigious galleries in the US and Europe and major museums have purchased his works. Upon returning to Italy, where he lives in Anghiari, near Arezzo, and in Milan, he continued to create his stories and scenes, producing stage sets for prestigious theatres, such as those he created for the musical “Carousel” at the Lyric Opera in Chicago or for Leoncavallo’s opera “I Pagliacci” at Turin’s Teatro Regio.

Solo exhibitions

2023 

Senigallia, Palazzo del Duca, Senigallia, Italy

Milano, per filo e per segno, Weinstein Hammons Gallery, Minneapolis, USA 

Le Passe-Muraille, Galerie XII, Paris, France

 

2022 

Racconti Brevi, Teatro Franco Parenti, Milan, Italy

 

2021 

Autobiografica (con ex voto), VisionArea Art Space, Rome, Italy

Racconti Immaginari, Villa Torlonia, San Mauro Pascoli, Italy

Grazia Ricevuta, Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

La città nuova, Galleria Marcorossi artecontemporanea, Milan, Turin, Verona, Italy

War and Flowers, Galleria Consadori, Milan, Italy

 

2020    

Carousel, CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia, Turin, Italy

Ex Voto, Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Quarantine Diary, Weinstein Hammond Gallery, Minneapolis, USA

The Automaton, Műcsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest, Hungary

An Invented World, Galerie XII, Los Angeles, USA

 

2018   

The silent City, Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Racconti Immaginari, Silos Armani, Milan, Italy

Racconti di Guerra, MAG – Museo Alto Garda, Riva del Garda, Italy

 

2017   

Eclipse, Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, USA

The Last Days of Vacation, Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

Pagliacci, CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia, Turin, Italy

 

2016   

Mystique Narratives II, Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Obras de la Colecciòn Cotroneo, Sala Municipales de Exposiciones, Valladolid, Spain

Mystique Narratives, Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

2015    

Un Mondo Infinito, Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen, Netherlands

La Città Infinita, Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis, USA

Short Stories, Gallery Baton, Seoul, South Korea

 

2014    

L’Homme à la Valise, Fotokino, Marseille, France

Träume, Die Galerie, Munich, Germany

L’archivio Ritrovato di V.P., Palazzo dei Pio, Carpi, Italy

 

2013    

The Infinite City, Atlas Gallery, London, UK

Il Mago Futurista, MART – Casa d’Arte Futurista Depero, Rovereto, Italy

The Infinite City, Hasted Kraeutler Gallery, New York, USA

Lo Zuavo Scomparso, Gallery Baton, Seoul, South Korea

Il Teatro della Memoria, FAR – Fabbrica Arte Rimini, Rimini, Italy

La collezione di Kim e Paolo Ventura, Museo della Città, Rimini, Italy

 

2012    

Recent Works, Italian Academy at Columbia University, New York, USA

Lo Zuavo Scomparso, MACRO, Rome, Italy

Behind the Walls, Forma Galleria, Milan, Italy

The Funeral of the Anarchist, Obsolete, Los Angeles, USA

 

2011    

The Automaton of Venice, Hasted Kraeutler Gallery, New York, USA

Behind the Walls, Photographica Fine Art Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland

L’Automa, Museo Fortuny, Venice, Italy

Selected Works, Gallery Baton, Seoul, South Korea

Winter Stories, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, USA 

 

2009    

Winter stories, Hasted Hunt Kraeutler Gallery, New York, USA 

Winter Stories, Galerie Camera Obscura, Paris, France

Winter Stories, Studio la Città, Verona, Italy

Fabulous Fictions, The Hague Museum of Photography, The Ague, Netherlands

Winter Stories, Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow, Russia

 

2008    

Storie D’Inverno, FORMA – Centro Internazionale di Fotografia, Milan, Italy

Winter Stories, Hasted Hunt Gallery, New York, USA

 

2007    

Souvenir de Guerre, Maison de la Photographie Npdc, Lille, France

Viaggio nella Memoria, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy

 

2006    

In Tempo di Guerra, FORMA – Centro Internazionale di Fotografia, Milan, Italy

Souvenir de Guerre, Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France

War Souvenir, Hasted Hunt Gallery, New York, USA

War Souvenir, Lazia Nowa, Krakov, Poland

War Souvenir, A-3 Gallery, Moscow, Russia

Group exhibitions

2024

Arte Fiera, Bologna, Italy

 

2023

Sacred Landscape, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy

 

2022

The Italians, The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Miami, USA

L’Europa non cade dal cielo. Reflections through Contemporary Art, Galleria delle Prigioni, Treviso, Italy

Home is where the Art is. From the Poort-Visser Collection, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Inquattro, Marcorossi artecontemporanea, Milano, Pietrasanta, Torino, Verona, Italy

What a wonderful world, MAXXI, Rome, Italy

Foto in gioco!, La Venaria Reale, Venaria Reale, Italy

Objectivity: Metaphorical and Material Lives of Photographs, Minneapolis Institute of Art’s, Minneapolis, USA

Napoleon, Forte di Bard, Bard, Italy

 

2021    

Além de 2020. Arte italiana na pandemia, MAC – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Sao Paulo, Brazil

The Families of Man, Museo Archeologico Regionale, Aosta, Italy

Music Box, Weinstein Hammons Gallery, Minneapolis, USA

True Fictions, Fondazione Palazzo Magnani, Reggio Emilia, Italy

 

2019    

New 20th Anniversary Exhibition, The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Miami, USA

Make Believe: Fantasy, fairy tales and Magic from five contemporary photographers. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA

Fotografi a Roma. Commissione Roma 2003-2017 e le acquisizioni al patrimonio fotografico di Roma Capitale, Palazzo Braschi, Rome, Italy

Giostre! Storie, immagini, giochi, Palazzo Roverella, Rovigo, Italy

2018    

Of Individuals and Places, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada

New Perspective, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, Italy

Age of Love, DongGang International Photo Festival, Seoul, South Korea

Photologies, Biennale de la Photographie, Aubagne, France

New Perspective, La Triennale, Milan, Italy

 

2017    

Variazioni su un tema, Galleria Antonio Verolino, Modena, Italy

Season Preview, Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

Alfabeto Fotografico Romano, Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Palazzo Poli, Rome, Italy

Fifteen Countries: On Loan from the Collection of Martin Z. Margulies, AIPAD, New York, USA

Tonalità tangibili, Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin, Italy

Là dove interviene il Disegno: La Fotografia, Fondazione Bottari Lattes, Turin, Italy

 

2016    

20 Years, Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis, USA

Photomed – Festival of Mediterranean Photography, Sanary-sur-Mer, France

La via Emilia. Strade, viaggi, confini, Fotografia Europea 2016, Reggio Emilia, Italy

 

2015    

Photo Festival Gacilly, La Gacilly, France

Bienal Internacional Fotografica Bogotá, Bogotá, Colombia

Italia Inside Out. I fotografi italiani, Palazzo della Ragione, Milan, Italy

Questa è guerra, Palazzo del Monte di Pietà, Padova, Italy

 

2014        

La Guerra che Verrà Non è la Prima 1914-2014, MART – Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy

Turning Point, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, Hungary

La Mémoire Traversée, Eléphant Paname – Mois de la Photographie in Paris, Paris, France

Festival Internazionale di Fotografia di Roma, MACRO – Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome, Italy

Historia, Miradas de Artistas, Marco – Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Vigo, Vigo, Spain

Histoire, Regards d’Artistes, Hotel des Arts – Centre du Conseil General du Var, Toulon, France

 

2013    

Next Stop Italy, The Phillips Collection, Washington, USA

 

2012    

Do You Remeber the First Time?, Atlas Gallery, London, UK

New Aquisitions from the MACRO Collection, MACRO – Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome, Italy

La Collezione di Italo Zannier, PArCO – Galleria D’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Armando Pizzinato, Pordenone, Italy

La Fotografia della Collezione Trevisan, MART – Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy

The Silent Village, DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic

 

2011    

Sembianze, Galleria D’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, San Marino

54° Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione Italia, Venice, Italy

Otherwordly, Museum of Art and Design, New York, USA

New Yorker Fiction/Real Photography, Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, USA

 

2009    

Manipulating Reality, CCC Strozzina – Centro di Cultura Contemporanea a Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy

Collection from Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Instituto Itaù Cultural, Sao Paulo, Brazil

La Photographie Italiens des Annees 50 a Nos Jours, Centre National de l’Audiovisuel, Luxembourg

Photography From the Permanent Collection, Lowe Art Museum, Miami, USA

New York Photographs, Hasted Hunt Gallery, New York, USA

 

2008    

Contemporary Photographic Views, Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis, USA

Inside the Human Space, Isola di San Servolo, Venice, Italy

The New Original Photo, Interalla Gallery, Seoul, South Korea

Una Historia Privada, Theatro Circo Price, Madrid, Spain

Ellis Island and Beyond, Aperture Gallery, New York, USA

Roma, Palazzo Delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy

Una Storia Privata, Museo Bilotti, Rome, Italy

 

2007    

NYC, Phillips De Pury Gallery, New York, USA

Hunter and Hanted, Sara Tecchia Gallery, New York, USA

On the Wall, Aperture Gallery, New York, USA

Luci su Milano. New art acquisitions of Unicredit Bank, Milan, Italy

Une Histoire Privée, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France

Collections

PUBLIC COLLECIONS

Boston Museum of Fine Art, Boston, USA

Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione, Rome, Italy

Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Rome, Italy

Koo House Museum of Art & Design, South Korea

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., USA

Lowe Art Museum, Miami

MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy

Maison Européen de la Photographie, Paris, France

Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Miami

MART Contemporary and Modern Art Museum of Trento and Rovereto, Italy

The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, USA

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada

Museo Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy

Museo di Palazzo dei Pio, Carpi, Italy

Museo di Roma, Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali – Palazzo Braschi, Rome, Italy

Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., USA

Unicredit Bank Collection, Milan, Italy

Works