Antonio Schiavano’s Photographic Exhibition

Con/Temporary Space, Turin | March 22 – April 3, 2025

After stops in Como and Voghera, Antonio Schiavano’s exhibition “The Beauty and the Bane” arrives in Turin, hosted at Con/Temporary Space by Artàporter, curated by Massimo Gioscia. A new installation designed to engage deeply with the space and enhance the visual and conceptual impact of the works.

At the heart of the project is Photomorphia, a technique and vision that Schiavano develops as a metaphor for the tension between the polished appearance and the authenticity of the human being. In a world that celebrates perfection as the absolute standard, his images pierce the surface to reveal the substance. They don’t destroy: they reveal. Each mark, scratch, and abrasion is a handcrafted act of subtraction that becomes a revelation, transforming the photographic portrait into a space for dialog between fragility and strength, desire and truth.

With a minimalist and powerful esthetic, The Beauty and the Bane challenges contemporary visual codes, questioning identity and denouncing the homogenization induced by unattainable models, ultimately leading to a radical critique of the abuse of cosmetic surgery as a tool for erasing differences.

The Turin exhibition is spread over two levels: on the ground floor, the photographic works engage in a direct dialog with the viewer; In the basement level, a raw and ruined space houses immersive installations, projections, and light games that amplify the sense of deconstruction, leading the visitor into a sensory and intimate experience in search of a deeper, inner, and free beauty.

THE EXHIBITION PREVIEW

Prior to the exhibition, in January 2025, an exclusive preview was held within the elegant Savoy apartment in Turin, “PoVenti5”: an intimate meeting between the artist and the audience, made possible thanks to the collaboration with Massimo Gioscia, Artàporter, and the Savoir Faire Torino Cultural Association, who offered a valuable space to preview the project and share its deeper meaning.

ART INSTALLATIONS AT THE CON/TEMPORARY SPACE IN TURIN

Beauty and the Bane is a sensory journey that deconstructs traditional esthetic canons. Each installation represents a threshold to be crossed, inviting the viewer to question the meaning of beauty. Thru distorted images, broken surfaces, and reflections, the viewer’s gaze is challenged. Beauty emerges as a subjective experience, no longer universal or imposed.

1. THE BEGINNING: A NEW VISION
   The journey begins with an eye projected onto a string curtain, a symbol of a new perspective. Treading on the image of a screaming woman represents the rejection of esthetic conventions and the affirmation of freedom.
2. EPHEMERAL BEAUTY, PERMANENT MARKS
   Beauty dissolves thru transparent acetate, giving way to scars and tears on ripped fabrics. Photomorphic works reveal the hidden truth behind the surface.
3. DISTORTED REFLECTIONS
   A single image, doubled by water and mirrors, transforms. Water becomes a filter of truth, revealing the authentic imperfection hidden beneath the surface.
4. SEPARATION AND SELF-SEARCH
   The path proposes a separation between what the artist rejects and an inner search thru three installations:
   – no broken mirror showing fragments of oneself;
   – a dark grid that reflects whoever approaches;
   – a basin of water that, when stirred, reveals what is hidden.
5. THE PERSISTENT GAZE
   Two eyes watch from the parterre, while a video transforms a face thru the threads of a curtain. Mirrors and lights evoke a symbolic womb from which one is reborn.
6. THRU THE RUINS
   Passing thru crumbling walls, two large images marked by time appear. In the center, the initial eye re-emerges from a tear, authentic. The tear becomes a revelation: to see beyond the illusion.
7. THE ESSENCE OF BEAUTY
   The journey concludes in a box of mirrors, where a video shows an eye multiplying until it forms a single gaze: the initial one, a symbol of true beauty.