Fine-Art Photographer in Milan – Antonio Schiavano
artistic and research art photography
The Fine-Art Photography of Antonio Schiavano
With a career dedicated to aesthetic research and technical perfection, Antonio Schiavano stands out as a fine-art photographer in Milan. Each image tells a story, capturing the essence and beauty of the subjects in a unique and engaging way. His works, shown in major exhibitions, represent a perfect balance of light, color and composition. Through his lens, Antonio transforms the everyday into the extraordinary, offering a new perspective on reality. Explore his art projects using the galleries below and be captivated by the magic of fine-art photography.
These images were exhibited at Unfair Milan 2024 – Contemporary Art Fair
Languishing
Born during the Covid-19 pandemic, the project reveals itself as an inner journey, an invocation to shed the chains of uncertainties and plunge into the deepest recesses of existence. The technique of double exposure acts as a powerful tool, weaving a narrative between the ethereal soul, symbolized by the reassuring Blue, the color of calmness and tranquility, and the body that carries the weight of time and its challenges. In this evocative visual dialogue, multiple emotional nuances blend into a single shot, offering a privileged glimpse into the very essence of the human being. It is an opportunity for rebirth, an invitation to release the emotions dormant deep within, ready to awaken and reclaim their space in the echo of time. It is time to overcome the barriers of the soul, to embrace change with courage, and to surrender to one’s deepest authenticity. This project aims to convey the life force that resides within us, to rediscover the most authentic essence of the self, relying on the courage of the mature self, projected into a future of hope, already immersed in the normalcy that preceded the pandemic.
These images were exhibited at Unfair Milan 2024 – Contemporary Art Fair
The Wait
“The Wait” is an intricate interweaving of reflections that affirms the will not to be able to surrender in the face of the immutability of time and space understood as the “oppressive container” of everyday life. Conceptual photography in which each shot is presented as a theatrical drama in which the viewer can identify and interpret his or her own role in the scene. The low contrast of the images and the expressive poses of the subject seem metaphors of enchantment, mystery and curiosity about what can be hidden inside a physicality that awaits to be released, despite its vulnerability.
These images were exhibited at Unfair Milan 2024 – Contemporary Art Fair
Reflections
In these almost Surrealist-inspired images, a profound investigation into the complexity of the human body and its abstract forms, which stand as symbols of a multifaceted essence, capable of taking on new and sometimes ambiguous connotations, is outlined. It is a boundless exploration, embracing the multiple dimensions of the human body: physical, anatomical, sexual, spatial, temporal and intellectual. The visual compositions are admirably designed to stimulate acute reflection on the acceptance of one’s bodily being, inviting the viewer to confront one’s vulnerabilities. It is as if each image were a visual score, in which the human body is transformed into a melody of changing forms and meanings, intended to interact with the viewer’s soul in an intimate and profound dialogue.
The Beauty and the Bane
This series aims to bring the viewer to confront the ephemeral nature of aesthetics. The images, initially nude shots by the artist himself, were transformed, in color, appearance and texture through the use of oils and paints. A true deconstruction that challenges traditional aesthetic canons and stands as a powerful commentary on the superficiality with which we often perceive beauty. In this way, the project becomes a critique of the image society, highlighting how the conception of beauty can be easily manipulated and distorted by those who hold the power to define what should be considered beautiful or not. It is an invitation to look beyond appearance, to discover beauty in the cracks and wounds, to recognize that it is precisely through its destruction that beauty can be reborn and reveal its deepest essence.
Santorini
The images are an invitation to plunge into a world of juxtapositions, in which light and shadow seem to play with each other to vie for the viewer’s attention. A sense of duality between almost lightless shots that recall the blackness of volcanic stone as opposed to images lit to the extreme, almost burned by pristine white. A sensory journey to discover an island outside of time: an alternative version of a Santorini removed from the hustle and bustle. A celebration of the beauty of contrasts, of the harmony between strength and delicacy through the everyday life of an unseen, almost surreal Santorini in which every detail comes to the eyes almost as if sight runs more than thought.
Nature Moved
A dialogue between the concreteness of human existence and the infinite vastness of nature. The project is the result of superimposing some polaroid shots, transferred to paper, with images of a forest, deliberately blurred, appearing almost ethereal and in motion. A union that envelops the subject in the primordial essence of nature, almost embodying the human soul trying to define itself in a constantly changing universe. An invitation to silent contemplation and reflection. Some of these shots were exhibited at the “Salon International de La Lingerie & Interfilière” in Paris.
TerrAriAcqua
In this series of images, there emerges a fusion of nature and the feminine soul. The technique of double exposure serves as a canvas upon which to paint this merger: the images of women, portrayed in the studio, harmoniously overlap with elements of nature, creating a potent and evocative symbolism. The women, enveloped by the waters, become an integral part of the element of purification and rebirth. It is an invitation to immerse oneself in the depths of existence, to be carried by the flow of life with confidence and serenity. In the photographs where female bodies merge with the Earth in an embrace between humanity and nature, the body dissolves, making space for the vital essence, in a process of silent transformation and rebirth. It is a return to the roots, an integration into the harmony of the Earth that underscores the cyclical nature of life and its eternal regeneration. Through the visual fusion of women with the Air, femininity transcends materiality, merging with the infinity of the skies. The female faces become symbols of beauty and fragility, while the clouds represent unpredictability and restlessness. It is as if destiny itself is painted on those faces, tracing the lines of a narrative where human emotions blend with the immense mystery of the universe.
Lights and Shadows of Milan
Small glimpses, details, ravines, lines, angles, portions, writings, strokes, immortalized wandering around Milan where often our eye does not stop, does not see, does not observe in our fast and, often, thoughtful passage. Lively and lashing colors, dazzling and brilliant lights illuminate, of course, areas of shadow: the eternal seductive and strongly suggestive contrast that Antonio has well captured, immortalized by making shots, sometimes with magical geometries, full of energy, movement and beauty. Through these images Antonio Schiavano also presents himself as an “Urban Photographer”, a completely new role for his observers who for the first time have the opportunity to get to know his street photography.
Madagascar
A photographic reportage of one of Antony’s trips to Madagascar in which his aptitude for witnessing the beauty of the world led him to capture people, glimpses, scenes of daily life and the nature of this country in a mode quite different from the usual“travel photography” we are used to. Through deliberately underexposed images and the use of flash also for daytime shots, Antonio was able to isolate and enhance his subjects, especially human figures. The report was later published in PhotoVogue, the platform dedicated to professional photographers by the editorial staff of Vogue Italia.
These images were exhibited first at the Fondazione delle Stelline and then at the Palazzo dell’Arengario and later were selected by Denis Curti for publication in the 1993 volume “Young Italian Photographers.”
Santa Margherita Wines
In 1990 the company Santa Margherita Wines approached Renato Marcialis to choose 12 photographers specializing in different fields to photograph Pinot Grigio wine. At the presentation of the project Antonio discovered that the Pinot Grigio white wine was produced from black grapes and immediately understood which photographic storytelling project to present. He decided to create 6 brush-printed images , which represented the history of Pinot Grigio.
The first shot represents the strength with which each bunch of grapes hangs on the black vine almost as if it were welded to it. A force that is dampened in the second shot, during the cutting phase in which the white hands collect the bunch despite the resistance of the black hands. The third photo tells the transformation – the moment of bottling – in which the wild strength of the vine and therefore of nature acquires a new shape: the delicate shape of a white and elegant body that finds its complete realization in the fourth shot, finally becoming a bottle . In the fifth photo the wine has now been produced and the two bodies become aware of their detachment and abandon themselves to a long farewell embrace. In the sixth shot, the woman’s body evokes the memory of the man’s body in the first image.
MOVED
A personal research work with which Antonio intends to communicate his idea of dynamism, destroying at the same time the social and cultural boundaries that try to control and confine physicality and emotionality. The body – which from click to click assumes a different posture and tension – is used as a tool through which the idea of an apparent movement is rendered, in clear contrast to its stillness with the aim of immortalizing an ever-changing vision of the body. human. The images lead the viewer to moments of emotional reflection on perceptions of gender, sexuality, identity and mortality: thoughts that each individual can deal with based on their personal experience.
Exhibitions and Publications by Antonio Schiavano Fine Art Photographer
The section below lists Antonio Schiavano’s most significant exhibitions and publications. These exhibitions and editorial collaborations represent his ongoing commitment to fine-art photography and offer a privileged look at his most prized works.
EXHIBITS:
– (un)fair 2024 – From February 29 to March 3, 2024 at Superstudio Maxi in Milan (IT)
– UNFORGETTABLE – From March 13 to April 7, 2024 at Hub/Art in Milan (IT)
– Lucca Art Fair 2024 – From April 19 to 21, 2024 at Real Collegio in Lucca (IT)
– “Les Italiens” at Festival OFF Arles – From July 1 to 7, 2024 in Arles, France COLORS. vintageFUTURE – September 14 to November 17, 2024 at Museo della Seta in Como (IT)
PUBLICATIONS:
– ImageMag magazine, October 2023 – Great Authors column, Author of the Month – Art & Glamour magazine, March 2024 – Re-birth, 2024 – First monographic volume by A. Schiavano collecting the fine-art projects: “The Waiting,” “Languishing” and “Reflections”
Fine-Art Photographer in Milan: The Art of Antonio Schiavano
Antonio Schiavano is a Milan-based fine-art photographer recognized for his ability to capture and reinterpret unique moments of everyday life and transform them into thought-provoking works of art. Each work is a visual journey that explores the beauty and complexity of the world through his artistic vision. With an innate passion for light and composition, Antonio creates images that evoke deep emotions and reflect his desire to express himself through this art. Discover his collections and be inspired by his distinctive vision of fine-art photography.
