Paolo Gasparini
Sala TAC Trasnocho Cultural. Caracas
The exhibition of photographies by brothers Graziano and Paolo Gasparini, entitled “2 x Gasparini” takes us back to two visions of contemporary Venezuelan photography. Graziano Gasparini (Italy, 1924) brings to mind the architect and researcher who seeks to review the history of popular Venezuelan architecture. His work highlights the pro- portion of volume and the austerity of the geometric composition. It does so in the framework of a basic architecture...that of small town churches and the homes of the simplest people. These constructions are analogous to true naive art: sober but endowed with dignity.
Paolo Gasparini (Italy, 1934) is considered important Venezuelan photographer. The works selected reflect in a sort of Italian Neo-Realism the heart of a city in this case, Caracas that tells of its miseries when faced with the vanity of the great public buildings of the 1950s and 1960s. It is the contrast between the modern highways and the shanty towns. The photographer captures with his lens the blank gaze of a group of women emigrating from rural areas in search of the illusion of an opportunity and shows them stunned and confused in the presence of new urban codes. There are no concessions. These are mute but thought inciting images, conveying denouncement. Disturbing mirrors that contrast with the passive contemplation of the rural towns reflected by Graziano. Paolo is critical and he does not leave the spectator in peace. The viewer will be shocked. The artist makes a denouncement which, painfully, is still valid that moves us. And it is the genesis of present-day violence. Graziano is the passiveness of a time stood still that no longer exists. Paolo reminds us, through a silent denouncement, that the works are not produced by architects or by engineers, but by political wills.
