For its inaugural exhibition, Silverstein Photography / 20 is pleased to introduce the work of Italian-born artist Maria Antonietta Mameli.
For her exhibition, Mameli (b. 1969) will show works from her recent series, Human Observations, Red Bags and Human Observations, Red Leashes. From the vantage point of the Manhattan Bridge, Mameli photographs the throngs of shoppers in New York’s Chinatown carrying the neighborhood’s signature red plastic bags, as well as dog-owners holding red leashes. These works call attention to the overlooked but recurrent possessions of her pedestrian subjects.
Once in production, Mameli removes all other elements from within the frame thereby highlighting the universality of our own human possessions (however temporary) through the bewitching union of light and object. By keeping her subjects in true scale as seen from the bridge, viewers are afforded an intimate encounter with the form of a stranger, whose only identifying traits are his or her silhouette and the belongings they carry. Without these typical layers of identification found in most street scenes, Mameli forces the audience to relate to her subjects typographically, with only the thematic elements she has chosen to feature serving as our guide.
Mameli’s reductionary and high-contrast street scenes echo the printing style of famed Italian photographer Mario Giacomelli, and unite photography’s most essential components, light and form. By minimizing the compositional elements within her images, Mameli not only calls attention to the temporal beauty of her anonymous subjects, but the simplicity of the medium as well. Mameli isolates the artistry of life’s minutiae and our own comprehension of it.
This will be Mameli’s first solo show with Silverstein Photography.