Elena Gallotta
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Born: 10 October 1982, Piacenza, Italy Nationality: Italian Lives and Works: Wexford / Dublin, Ireland Elena Gallotta is an award winning Italian fine-art photographer based in Ireland.Her work exhibited at the 54th Venice Biennale of Art and more recently with Vogue Italia in Milan. Her piece "WOMB" is also on permanent display at the Saatchi Gallery in London as a Showdown winner. She comes from a ballet and dance-theatre background which amplifies her natural predisposition to work with non-verbal communication. In order to unfold or create a story she listens to the body, observing or molding its subtle language and portraying how it relates itself to other beings and surrounding spaces. Elena's way of composing a picture and working with light is also hugely influenced by her passion for paintings, especially the Old Italian and Dutch Masters. In keeping with her Italian heritage stark chiaroscuro light is a distinguished trait of her work but on moving to Ireland she started to be fascinated by its incredibly soft natural light and she gradually began to incorporate this element into her images and a perfect example of this is “Story Of One” a dance short film she directed in 2009 which went on to be selected and screened at three European film festivals. A distinctive feature of Elena’s work is that she applies textures by hand onto a photograph, to achieve the timeless look and feel of antique drawing or painting. The ink sinks into art paper as if it were a piece of cloth, bringing the textures to life for an almost tridimensional experience. “Maria Callas, a portrait” - Elena is currently working on a project which is commissioned by the Maria Callas Foundation’s president Bruno Tosi who sadly passed away this summer. The project is in still in development phase (see link below). http://www.callas.it/news/english/under35.html Elena’s work has been published in art magazines throughout Europe and has been acquired by private collectors around the world. |
CRITICAL REVIEWS Glossom Interview: "Her work can often be defined as an anthropological study of the human body and its mysterious subtle language."
English Royal Photographic Society Journal Feature/Interview: http://egal.22slides.com/news_3
54th Venice Biennale Article: “Delicate works, studies of the female body, portrayed like a specimen in a frame, ornate with handmade textures that induce a feeling of something captured in a different time.”
International Association Of Art Critics – Ireland Article about Venice Biennale (scroll page): Italian Institute Of Culture in Dublin: “We are very pleased and proud to be part of this project and to present Elena Gallotta an Italian artist active in Ireland selected by the Biennale committee chaired by art critic Vittorio Sgarbi. Elena Gallotta was also selected to take part (from 31 May to 4 June 2011) in the formative residency in Venice offered by the Office VII, DGSP, Ministry Of Foreign Affairs as a further occasion of networking and creative confrontation with the major Venetian and international cultural institutions.
2011 Rome Irish Film Festival Article about selected short film “Story Of One”: “Setting itself apart from the traditional way of narrating a story in a short film, Story Of One by Elena Gallotta utilizes dance to highlight the conflict between self identity and personal limits, merging together documentary and fiction. The technical level of the festival’s selection is remarkable, prestigious public bodies are behind some films having supported them financially and certainly no amateurs are to be found among the selected works.”
We Are Selecters Feature: “In 2009 she went back to her first love when she was commissioned by the Irish Arts Council to make “Story Of One” a short dance film. She collaborated with two major dance performers from France and the film was a very productive visual-kinetic exchange between them all. The final result, “Story of One” was selected and screened at the Oxford Dance Festival in 2010.”
Vogue Italia – Photo Vogue Exhibition Article:
Arto - Art Beyond Museum Feature:
Worbz Feature:
Empty Kingdom Feature:
Awards 2012 Visionary Fashion Awards Ireland: - Best Image - Intercoiffure
2012 IPA International Photography Awards: - Three Honorable Jury Mentions
2011 IPA International Photography Awards: - Bronze Medal in Fine Art Figure and Nudes NP - Double Honorable Jury Mention
2011 PX3 Paris Prix de la Photographie Awards: - Gold Medal in Fine Art Figure and Nudes NP - Bronze Medal overall in Fine Art NP - Honorable Jury Mention
2011 London Saatchi Gallery Showdown Awards: - Silver Medal -Permanent display of the winning piece within the Saatchi Gallery
Select Permanent Collections:
Saatchi Gallery, London. Womb requested to be permanently displayed as Showdown winner. Select Exhibitions: Vogue Italia – Photo Vogue Exhibition, Milan, Italy
2011 Saatchi Gallery, London, UK. “Womb” on permanent exhibit as a Showdown winner. 10th International Opera Festival Art Exhibition, Wexford, Ireland 54th Venice Biennale Exhibition ''Italian Pavilion", Venice, Italy Gran Prix De La Photographie Exhibit, Paris, France Denver's Month of Photography The Big Picture Exhibition, Denver Colorado, USA |