DENIER

GABRIELE GENTILE

// Gabriele Gentile was born in Parma, Italy, where he completed his studies in the humanities and communication fields. He approached digital photography in his thirties, fascinated by the “magical power” of this artistic medium, finding it unique in fixing a moment and making it eternal. We present his colourful project “Denier”.

Time is the focus of Gabriele´s photographic research, the nostalgic time of the past from which to resurrect ancient buildings today in decay, and the time of the future, projected into minimal visions of modern architecture with futuristic forms and abstract colours. Forms, lines, space.; fundamental even in its negative meaning of empty space. In addition to time in space, colour is of utmost importance. He treats colour as a subject in and of itself, as a feeling and essential element of his photographic alphabet. He views photography as a mirror of one’s inner world; as aesthetic beauty, with rules and exceptions.

“BEAUTY WILL SAVE THE WORLD.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky
(From The Idiot)

What draws you to art?

“For me, art represents nourishment and beauty for the soul and the eyes. From any form of art I therefore expect it to surprise me, enrich me, satiate me, and bring me not new answers but always new questions.”

What do you like best about this conceptual photo art project?

“In this photographic series of mine, I especially admire the unusual and daring combinations between place and subject (faceless), between shapes and colours.”

The photographic project Denier is built upon Gabriele´s exploration of womanhood. “Being a woman is what distinguishes a woman, in every time and place,” he says. “Her womanhood, her empathic beauty, not synonymous with perfection but beauty as a unicum, a harmony with the world that comes from an inner balance and is reflected in her aesthetic side.”

Denier is a term that signifies a unit of density based on the length and weight of a yarn or fiber. As it also is used to indicate the thickness of stockings, Gabriele used the term as a metaphor for his idea of a woman. He sees the stockings as a veil that does not suffocate, but embellishes: “I wanted to represent my idea of a woman, a woman who is also fragmented, divided, faceless, but no less recognizable. A woman who like a chameleon archetypically blends with the space that surrounds her, which is no longer just that of the domus, her etymological “kingdom”, but is often a foreign world that she manages to tame and conquer thanks to her resilience and sensitivity, intoning it to herself. Lines become shape, colours become body, harmony becomes beauty.”

Images may be cropped for layout. Click on the photos to see a larger version in original format.