Edoardo Romagnoli lives and works in Milan.
The artist started developing his own photographic research in the late ‘80s and since then he has been exhibiting in solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad.
The very first photo of the moon dates back to 1988 and represents the beginning of his best known artistic work. In 1991 he had his first solo exhibition curated by Lanfranco Colombo at “Il Diaframma” gallery in Milan.
For Romagnoli, the moon represents an object of untiring observation; the artist makes it the protagonist of his long experimentation, renewing, at every release, the original charm that ravishes him every time. His photo-graphic work on the moon has been in constant development and has intensified itself during the time as a shut dialogue, never leading to a definitive result.
All photos are realized moving the camera and with any kind of post-production interventions.
Wide series are dedicated to architecture and graphic composition: “Duomo of Milano”, “Stazione Centrale”, “NY”, “Palazzo Lombardia” were exposed at the Italian Cultural Institute of Buenos Aires in 2015 as well as ”Cantiere Mantegna”, “Torre Velasca 2016”, “Capodanno a Londra”, “Sabbia”, and “Alberi”.
Some works deal with the idea of time: in his book, “Ulivi”, the artist represents the idea of time and its effects on a whole year’s time frame; in the book “999”, curated by Roberto Mutti, the trapped time explodes in a 15 minutes’ loop of roars and flashes announcing the arrival of the new millennium.
In 2005, he took part in the group exhibition “I Maestri della Fotografia” at Guggenheim, Venezia.
Other works are dedicated to the idea of movement: in the project “Corse” the artist uses movement to distract the photographic subject and catch their spontaneous movements; in the work “Alberi”, “Luci d’Artista”, “Duplex”, and others more, the movement is used to achieve a pictorial-metaphysical result.
A big focus on the richness of body’s expressiveness is evident in one of the last series, “Autoriscatti”, exposed at Ravello Festival – la Follia nell’Arte in 2010 and curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, but also in other series like “Autoscatti”, “Performance”, “Ritratto in scatola” and “Sogni”.
In 2009 the German publishing house Springer published the book “Lune” accompanied by the text of the well known Italian astronomer, prof. Piero Bianucci.
In 2011 he took part at the Biennale of Alessandria in the section of contemporary video-photography. In that occasion, he realized the first “Moon Walks”, which was also presented at “The Others Art Fair” in 2013.
In June 2012 the Museum of Contemporary art of Strasbourg acquired two photos of the Moon.
In October 2014, Chimera Editore published “Ogni generazione è ponte”, an historical, artistic and polyphonic book about generations that was presented at the Triennale of Milan on 20th November 2014.
In July 2015 the MUSINF of Senigallia acquired one photo from the series Autoriscatti.
In October 2019 a photograph of Torre Velasca has been acquired from the Italian embassy of Lisboa.
The leaflet “Pittura e Disegno”, realized by the graphic designer Silvio Rossi in 2018, combine the work “Fiori” with the Moon photographs, in four exhibitions during the year.
In 2019 publication of the book “Dalla Terra alla Luna”, text by Roberto Mutti, ed. Unimaginable, Milan.
Edoardo Romagnoli lives and works in Milan.
The artist started developing his own photographic research in the late ‘80s and since then he has been exhibiting in solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad.
The very first photo of the moon dates back to 1988 and represents the beginning of his best known artistic work. In 1991 he had his first solo exhibition curated by Lanfranco Colombo at “Il Diaframma” gallery in Milan.
For Romagnoli, the moon represents an object of untiring observation; the artist makes it the protagonist of his long experimentation, renewing, at every release, the original charm that ravishes him every time. His photo-graphic work on the moon has been in constant development and has intensified itself during the time as a shut dialogue, never leading to a definitive result.
All photos are realized moving the camera and with any kind of post-production interventions.
Wide series are dedicated to architecture and graphic composition: “Duomo of Milano”, “Stazione Centrale”, “NY”, “Palazzo Lombardia” were exposed at the Italian Cultural Institute of Buenos Aires in 2015 as well as ”Cantiere Mantegna”, “Torre Velasca 2016”, “Capodanno a Londra”, “Sabbia”, and “Alberi”.
Some works deal with the idea of time: in his book, “Ulivi”, the artist represents the idea of time and its effects on a whole year’s time frame; in the book “999”, curated by Roberto Mutti, the trapped time explodes in a 15 minutes’ loop of roars and flashes announcing the arrival of the new millennium.
In 2005, he took part in the group exhibition “I Maestri della Fotografia” at Guggenheim, Venezia.
Other works are dedicated to the idea of movement: in the project “Corse” the artist uses movement to distract the photographic subject and catch their spontaneous movements; in the work “Alberi”, “Luci d’Artista”, “Duplex”, and others more, the movement is used to achieve a pictorial-metaphysical result.
A big focus on the richness of body’s expressiveness is evident in one of the last series, “Autoriscatti”, exposed at Ravello Festival – la Follia nell’Arte in 2010 and curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, but also in other series like “Autoscatti”, “Performance”, “Ritratto in scatola” and “Sogni”.
In 2009 the German publishing house Springer published the book “Lune” accompanied by the text of the well known Italian astronomer, prof. Piero Bianucci.
In 2011 he took part at the Biennale of Alessandria in the section of contemporary video-photography. In that occasion, he realized the first “Moon Walks”, which was also presented at “The Others Art Fair” in 2013.
In June 2012 the Museum of Contemporary art of Strasbourg acquired two photos of the Moon.
In October 2014, Chimera Editore published “Ogni generazione è ponte”, an historical, artistic and polyphonic book about generations that was presented at the Triennale of Milan on 20th November 2014.
In July 2015 the MUSINF of Senigallia acquired one photo from the series Autoriscatti.
In October 2019 a photograph of Torre Velasca has been acquired from the Italian embassy of Lisboa.
The leaflet “Pittura e Disegno”, realized by the graphic designer Silvio Rossi in 2018, combine the work “Fiori” with the Moon photographs, in four exhibitions during the year.
In 2019 publication of the book “Dalla Terra alla Luna”, text by Roberto Mutti, ed. Unimaginable, Milan.
“I will never tire of observing the moon […] but every time I feel that I’ve gotten closer to capturing her essence, I look again and see that she is still teasing me, maintaining her distance but drawing me close to her.”
Edoardo Romagnoli
The very first encounter between Edoardo Romagnoli and the moon has to be traced back to 1990 and since then, the love story between the Italian artist and the elusive satellite has never come to an end.
Almost indulging the moon’s changing nature, Romagnoli always seeks her under her own terms: “I have to go to places where the moonlight doesn’t have to compete with unnatural light such as glare or reflections from streetlamps. These are usually peaceful and remote places that are also conducive to thought and would be inspiring even without the moon”.
While most photographers try to capture as much light as possible, Romagnoli does just the opposite, allowing his favorite subject to glow with her own special light without adding any artificial enhancement that would deprive her of her mystery.
By pointing the camera toward the sky, Romagnoli engraves the darkness with cryptic messages, creating nocturnal visions that become as silent, mysterious, and metaphysical as the moon.
Edoardo Romagnoli has a longstanding and special relationship with the moon, which he has featured in many of his photographs and who conceded herself to him in return, in the most exclusive and spectacular poses. An extraordinary complex body of work has taken shape from this symbiotic mutual exchange, beginning with an artistic research in black and white on movement through to the current more articulate visions in which color takes on a new and central role.
The photographer appears to move around urban environments in search of cues and inspiration, or pointing his lens at the beauty of the natural landscape. In actual fact, and this only becomes apparent after careful scrutiny, Edoardo Romagnoli is skillfully looking for the most fitting setting in which to feature ‘his’ protagonist”.
Even in the face of such beauty as the Mont Blanc, where he captures the un-broken mountain ranges in such a way as to recall early pictorial portrayals, the photographer never loses sight of his objective: the moon. He waits for the onset of light and imprisons her until a white trickle emerges and transforms the entire work into an image dominated by an ancient sense of magic.
When he points his lens towards the cloudy night – in the misty countryside of the region around Lucca – it is once again the moon that creates those mesmerizing trails evoking science fiction visions.
To capture movements in a frozen image is what drives Edoardo Romagnoli to create a
highly personal style made up of many facets to be discovered. For example, his personal perspective on the highly modern buildings of the Regione Lombardia in Milan does not simply denote an original approach to architecture, but also the search for the eye-catching scenario within which he let “his” moon to dance, by creating quick movements and glimmering trails bouncing off the surface of the building, transforming it into a huge and magnificent sanctuary capturing and withholding dreams and madness.
1. Which of these elements (space, air, fire, water, earth) would you choose in relation to your practice and/or your self, and why?
It is impossible to choose.
Maybe only in relation to the moment of your life you are going through you can feel closer and attracted by one element rather than another. My bond with nature is very strong. From an artistic point of view I like to take nature back and bring it into a dynamic dimension. I myself am a part of nature.
2. Is there a particular artwork/person/place/situation that inspired/motivated you to become an artist?
A place? Yes! Surely the walls of the house that I have always seen covered with works by my grandfather the painter Giuseppe Palanti. I have not known him but I have admired him totally. I tried my hand at drawing and painting and during high-school, I also won prizes. Then, a deep crisis led me to hang pencils and brushes on the nail. Only after I was thirty I realized I could paint with a camera and the world opened up there. I don’t think you can become an artist… or you are, or you are not an artist. Maybe you’re an artist and you don’t know. Maybe you’re an artist and you can’t express yourself…but if you are an artist, sooner or later it’ll come out. The great artists who have inspired me the most are: Lucio Fontana, Mark Rothko, Richard Long, and my teacher Giulio Confalonieri.
The situation that inspires me the most is to be in the midst of nature, Small and Powerful!
3. Do you consider yourself spiritual and how does this feed into your work?
If being spiritual does not enter in conflict with being material, terrestrial, passionate, yes, if it does, no. I like the psychology of charm and I try to exercise it with the Moon …. and also with collectors.
4. How did you meet Luisa Catucci and what is your experience working with her?
Luisa was the first to get to know my works. I heard about Luisa from Riccardo Costantini, the gallery owner of my Turin gallery. Then in Milan during the art fair “MIA Photo” we talked to each other for a long time. After that there was a period of silence, then we overwhelmed each other into an explosion of success! Luisa represents my international counterpart.
5. Please tell us in your words about the meaning of the moon for you as an artist.
The opportunity of being face to face with a Star loved by Everyone and see that I persuade it to dance alone with me drawing in the sky phantasmagorical and beautiful signs.