Paolo Gasparini: Latinopolis

From 30 September until 16 December, Fondation A Stichting in Brussels presents the photography exhibition Latinopolis with the work of Paolo Gasparini.

Paolo Gasparini (born in 1934 in Gorizia, in the region of Friuli, Italy) immigrated to Venezuela – Little Venice – in 1954. Marked by cinema images, he set off to Genoa with the book by the anti-fascist writer Elio Vittorini, Conversazione in Sicilia, in his bag. His initial portraits and other numerous photographs recall the work of Paul Strand and Walker Evans, yet Paolo Gasparini lost no time in exploring the boundaries of still images. Literature, cinema and photography continue to overlap in his work. He was in Cuba from 1961 to 1965. Revolutionary euphoria had reached its height. In 1972, Paolo Gasparini published Para verte mejor América Latina (All the better to see you, Latin America). In this book, the symbols of a brutal economic neoliberalism conflict with the political icons of the socialist revolution. Due to this conflict of images, his photographs are real feats in terms of their form as well as content. Comprising of fragments, pieces, reflections and inversions, they become images among images. Latinopolis presents an impressive photo wall mural, called ‘El Ángel de la Historia (The Angel of History)’, produced by the artist specifically for the exhibition.