In Atelier. Aurelio Amendola: 40 years of photography and artist’s portraits

The exhibition “In Atelier” curated by Vincenzo Trione at Triennale in Milan, exhibits photos collected since 1970 by great Italian master of photography Aurelio Amendola. Eighty-five shots that immortalize the Italian and international protagonists of XX century inside their own studios. The exhibition opens with the evocative black and white photographs of the “Pietà Rondanini”, Michelangelo’s unfinished sculptural masterpiece, memory of the tireless tendency of great artists to experiment. A timeless experiment which spans centuries, penetrating in our time, in its elusive virtuosity media.

Antonio Recalcati, Aurelio Amendola, In Atelier, Triennale, Milano

Behind the camera, silently, Aurelio Amendola has established a close dialogue with the artists, entering tiptoe into the fragile moment of creation, succeeding in capturing that moment and to extend it beyond its specific duration, as a symbolic documentation of action. The destiny of the artwork takes shape in different tracks: that of the realization and that of the documentation. A reflection which reaches its peak when measuring with the sense of non-repeatability which is identified in this large photographic project which lasted more than forty years; whose original idea was suggested by the early Amendola happenings which reached Italy in the early 70s. The exhibition is divided into four sections: “Michelangelo towards the contemporary”, “Creative workshop”, “Happening” and “Work of artist.”

Hermann Nitsch, Aurelio Amendola, In Atelier, Triennale, Milano

Rather than stages of the exhibition they have to be construed as defining moments to understand the meaning of photographic documentation of this great master. The shots by Amendola offer themselves as an invitation, which urges us to get into the most desired ateliers of the ’900; from the putrid and blood stains of Herman Nitsch to the more orderly and bright ones of Hans Hartug. The imperturbability of Andy Warhol and the sunny smile of Carla Accardi.