ABOUT

— The decay photographer —

- ARTIST STATEMENT -

My passion springs from landscape and architectural photography.
 
Ambient photography has always attracted me like a magnet, on the contrary of figurative and reportage photography. I often tell, jokingly and provocatively, to whom asks me why I don’t deal with these genres that it’s too easy to infuse an emotion by means of subjects already able to communicate emotions through their gestures and looks…The real challenge is to make the emotions bloom from something lifeless!”
 

My instinct leads me to the discover of abandoned places, from past times, barely accessible and hidden from most people.

Explorations in complete solitude. Like a climber on inaccessible peaks, when you are alone your emotions are amplified and you feel as an anachronistic ghosts in a place where no one should be, an intruder who has entered to upset the ancient rest of a sleeping palace.

Palaces that, in my fantasy, are as if they were narcissistic entities destined for oblivion in search of someone able to convey their lost glories for the last time.

So I combine in a single recipe the common components in my way of photographing: adventure, architecture, technique and aesthetics … above all aesthetics.

In fact, I am not interested in making photographs solely of denunciation or immortalizing architectural rigor.

I felt that something was missing anyway, the secret ingredient to distinguish myself from other explorers and photographers.
 
The secret ingredient was Caravaggio, “the first photographer”.
 
The great Italian artist used marginalized subjects of society, such as old beggars and prostitutes, and then glorified them in transpositions of saints and madonnas. And even his still lifes showed fruits in the advanced ripening phase, with atmospheres of autumn decay.
But it is his technique that has become legendary, with his way of mastering light with high contrasts of light and shadows.
 
My subjects, decrepit like those of Caravaggio, are inspired by him coming to assume almost the quality of a painting, transforming something decadent and inanimate into a work where dominant shadows and lights arouse discordant emotions in the viewer, caused by an ancient beauty wrapped up in darkness.
La mia passione fotografica nasce dalla fotografia di paesaggio e architettura.
 
La fotografia d’ambiente ha sempre avuto grande magnetismo su di me, al contrario del figurativo o della fotografia di reportage. Dico spesso a chi mi chiede perchè non tratti questi generi, in maniera scherzosa e provocatoria, che è ” troppo facile trasmettere un emozione con soggetti già capaci di rivelare un’emozione con i propri gesti ed espressioni…la verà difficoltà è in un qualcosa di inanimato!”
 
Il mio istinto mi porta ad altro, verso esplorazioni di luoghi abbandonati appartenenti ad epoche passate, difficilmente accessibili e nascosti ai più.
 
Esplorazioni in completa solitudine. Come uno scalatore su cime impervie, quando si è da soli le emozioni vengono amplificate e ci si sente dei fantasmi anacronistici in un posto dove non dovrebbe stare nessuno, un intruso entrato a scombussolare l’antico riposo di un palazzo dormiente.
 
Palazzi che, nella mia fantasia, è come se fossero delle narcisistiche entità destinate all’oblio in cerca di qualcuno in grado di trasmettere per un’ultima volta i loro fasti perduti.
 
Così riunisco in un’unica ricetta le componenti comuni nel mio modo di fotografare: avventura, architettura, tecnica ed estetica…soprattutto estetica.
 
Infatti non mi interessa realizzare fotografie unicamente di denuncia o immortalare il rigore architettonico. 
 

Mancava ancora l’ingrediente segreto per distinguermi dagli altri esploratori e fotografi.

L’ingrediente era Caravaggio, il primo “fotografo”.
 
Il grande artista italiano utilizzava soggetti emarginati della società, come vecchi mendicanti e prostitute, per poi glorificarli in trasposizioni di santi e madonne. Ed anche le sue nature morte mostravano frutti in fase di maturazione avanzata, con atmosfere di decadenza autunnale.
Ma è la sua tecnica che è diventata leggendaria, col suo modo di padroneggiare la luce con alti contrasti di luce ed ombre.
 
I miei soggetti, decrepiti come quelli di Caravaggio, si ispirano a lui arrivando ad assumere quasi la qualità di un dipinto, trasformando qualcosa di decadente ed inanimato in un’opera dove le ombre dominanti e le luci suscitano nello spettatore emozioni discordanti, suscitate da un’antica bellezza avvolta nelle tenebre.
My passion springs from landscape and architectural photography.
 
Ambient photography has always attracted me like a magnet, on the contrary of figurative and reportage photography. I often tell, jokingly and provocatively, to whom asks me why I don’t deal with these genres that it’s too easy to infuse an emotion by means of subjects already able to communicate emotions through their gestures and looks…The real challenge is to make the emotions bloom from something lifeless!”
 

My instinct leads me to the discover of abandoned places, from past times, barely accessible and hidden from most people.

Explorations in complete solitude. Like a climber on inaccessible peaks, when you are alone your emotions are amplified and you feel as an anachronistic ghosts in a place where no one should be, an intruder who has entered to upset the ancient rest of a sleeping palace.

Palaces that, in my fantasy, are as if they were narcissistic entities destined for oblivion in search of someone able to convey their lost glories for the last time.

So I combine in a single recipe the common components in my way of photographing: adventure, architecture, technique and aesthetics … above all aesthetics.

In fact, I am not interested in making photographs solely of denunciation or immortalizing architectural rigor.

I felt that something was missing anyway, the secret ingredient to distinguish myself from other explorers and photographers.
 
The secret ingredient was Caravaggio, “the first photographer”.
 
The great Italian artist used marginalized subjects of society, such as old beggars and prostitutes, and then glorified them in transpositions of saints and madonnas. And even his still lifes showed fruits in the advanced ripening phase, with atmospheres of autumn decay.
But it is his technique that has become legendary, with his way of mastering light with high contrasts of light and shadows.
 
My subjects, decrepit like those of Caravaggio, are inspired by him coming to assume almost the quality of a painting, transforming something decadent and inanimate into a work where dominant shadows and lights arouse discordant emotions in the viewer, caused by an ancient beauty wrapped up in darkness.
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- BIOGRAPHY -

Christian Basetti, born in 1979, lives in Milan. Animated by the ever-growing desire for adventure, he transforms great solo trips around the world into an indissoluble combination with landscape photography.

Since he’s fond of architectural photography, even in this case he admires the iconicity of the great works of the ancient and modern world; in his passion he feels the challenge to make the great works talk through his shots, as if they were silent, narcissistic creatures, waiting for someone to express their greatness.

In 2015, the passion for adventure and photography of environments converges in the photography of ancient decadent places, trying to give voice to these structures full of melancholy charm.
 
A secret world existing both in the present and in the past, an out-of-time, suspended dimension. He discovered places sometimes hardly accessible or simply hidden and isolated from the big cities.
 

The search for places is an integral part of the challenge and the story behind the final shot, as well as the legal risk of not being discovered in the property of others that are often guarded or otherwise not publicly accessible.

With a personal style always aimed at aesthetics, he never limits himself exclusively to the documentary aspect, but wants to represent the ancient pride of places destined to be erased by time, inspired by the style of Caravaggio in the representation of the environments.

The “Forgotten Artchitectures” project came to life.

Christian Basetti, classe 1979, vive a Milano.  Animato dal desiderio sempre crescente per l’avventura, trasforma grandi viaggi in solitaria attorno al mondo in un binomio indissolubile con la fotografia di paesaggio.

Appassionato anche di fotografia d’architettura, anche in questo caso ammira l’iconocità delle grandi opere sia del mondo antico che moderno; nella sua passione sente la sfida di far parlare con gli scatti le grandi opere costruite, come se fossero delle creature narcisistiche silenziose in attesa di qualcuno che esprima la loro grandezza.

Nel 2015 , la passione per l’avventura e la fotografia d’ambienti confluisce  nella fotografia di antichi luoghi decadenti, cercando di dare voce a queste strutture cariche di malinconico fascino.

Un mondo segreto e silenzioso che esiste sia nel presente che nel passato, in una dimensione sospesa fuori dal tempo.
 
La ricerca dei luoghi é parte integrante della sfida e della storia che sta dietro allo scatto finale, oltre al rischio legale di non essere scoperti in proprietà altrui spesso sorvegliate o comunque non pubblicamente accessibili.
 
Con uno stile personale rivolto sempre all’estetica non si limita mai esclusivamente all’aspetto documentaristico, ma vuole rappresentare l’antico orgoglio di luoghi destinati a essere cancellati dal tempo, ispirandosi allo stile del Caravaggio nella rappresentazione degli ambienti.
 
Il progetto “Forgotten Artchitectures” prese vita.
 
 

Christian Basetti, born in 1979, lives in Milan. Animated by the ever-growing desire for adventure, he transforms great solo trips around the world into an indissoluble combination with landscape photography.

Since he’s fond of architectural photography, even in this case he admires the iconicity of the great works of the ancient and modern world; in his passion he feels the challenge to make the great works talk through his shots, as if they were silent, narcissistic creatures, waiting for someone to express their greatness.

In 2015, the passion for adventure and photography of environments converges in the photography of ancient decadent places, trying to give voice to these structures full of melancholy charm.
 
A secret world existing both in the present and in the past, an out-of-time, suspended dimension. He discovered places sometimes hardly accessible or simply hidden and isolated from the big cities.
 

The search for places is an integral part of the challenge and the story behind the final shot, as well as the legal risk of not being discovered in the property of others that are often guarded or otherwise not publicly accessible.

With a personal style always aimed at aesthetics, he never limits himself exclusively to the documentary aspect, but wants to represent the ancient pride of places destined to be erased by time, inspired by the style of Caravaggio in the representation of the environments.

The “Forgotten Artchitectures” project came to life.

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- PREMI INTERNAZIONALI- AWARDS -

PREMI INTERNAZIONALI- AWARDS

2021     1° PLACE –   Architecture / Interior category – with “Va, pensiero” series , IPA  (International Photography Awards)

2021     HONORABLE MENTION –  Architecture / Interior  category – with “Break from Oblivion” series , IPA  (International Photography Awards)

2021     2° PLACE  ABSOLUTE –  and finalist for nominations “NEW TALENT OF THE YEAR” PRIZE – Portfolio  category – with “Forgotten Artcheology” series , Moscow International Photo Awards (MIFA)

2021     GOLD AWARD –   Portfolio / fine art category – with “Forgotten Artcheology” series , Moscow International Photo Awards (MIFA)

2021     GOLD AWARD –   Nature / Panoramic category – with “Millenial witnesses” series , Moscow International Photo Awards (MIFA)

2021     SILVER AWARD –   Architecture / Interiors  category – with “Risorgimento proud” series , Moscow International Photo Awards (MIFA)

2021     BRONZE AWARD –   Fine art / Other  category – with “Break from Oblivion” series , Moscow International Photo Awards (MIFA)

2021     HONORABLE MENTION –  Fine art / Other  category – with “Va, pensiero” series , Moscow International Photo Awards (MIFA)

2021     GOLD AWARD –   Architecture / Historic category – with “Break from Oblivion” series , PX3 – Prix de la photographie Paris

2021     BRONZE AWARD –   Architecture /Historic category – with “Va, pensiero” series , PX3 – Prix de la photographie Paris

2021     BRONZE AWARD –   Architecture /Historic category – with “His Majesty” single , PX3 – Prix de la photographie Paris

2021     GOLD AWARD –   Architecture / Interior category – with “Va, pensiero” series , PX3 – Prix de la photographie Paris

2021     GOLD AWARD –   Architecture / Industrial category – with “In-dust-Trial” series , PX3 – Prix de la photographie Paris

2021     2° PLACE –   Architecture category (series) with “Va, pensiero” series , MonoVisions Photography Awards

2021     HONORABLE MENTION –  Architecture (single)  category – with “The Exit” , MonoVisions Photography Awards

2021     HONORABLE MENTION –  Architecture (single)  category – with “Arabic upside down” , MonoVisions Photography Awards

2021     HONORABLE MENTION –  Nature and wildlife (single)  category – with “Ascension to Navajo heaven” , MonoVisions Photography Awards

2021     FINALIST OF 10 – “New buildings prize” category with “Death of sun“, Urban Photo Awards

IPA AWARDS 2021 - WINNERS NOMINATIONS FOR BEST ABSOLUTE WINNER CATEGORY

IPA AWARDS 2021 - WINNERS NOMINATIONS FOR BEST ABSOLUTE WINNER CATEGORY

(My nomination at 8:45 minute, Non professional categories as Architecture /interior winner)

MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL PHOTO AWARDS FINALISTS NOMINATIONS FOR "NEW TALENT OF THE YEAR 2021"

MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL PHOTO AWARDS

FINALISTS NOMINATIONS FOR "NEW TALENT OF THE YEAR" 2021

(My nomination at 11:00 minute, Non professional categories)

- DICONO DI ME -

"Fotografia o dipinti? E' l'intrigante dilemma che ci si pone nell'osservare le opere di Christian Basetti, il "cronoreporter" che rincorre il tempo fissandolo nell'obiettivo, immortalando ambienti ed atmosfere. Una maniera quantomai affascinante di andare alla ricerca del tempo perduto."
Nicoletta Romano
Direttore "Living" art and design magazine
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TV INTERVIEW FOR CHANNEL TV "RETE 55"

- EXHIBITS -

2021 – Paviart – art market exhibition 2021

2021 – PhotoPro Studios Moscow – winners of Mifa awards 2021 Moscow

2020 – Publication with article and cover image on “Living”, Varese art and

design magazine (number 117)

2020 – Solo exhibition at “ Galleria d’arte Quadrifoglio ” – Rho, (Milan)

2020 – Solo exhibition at “Sala Veratti”, storic center, Varese

2019 – Collective exhibition at “exfabbricadellebambole gallery”- Milan

2019 – Music concert for piano and solo exhibition ” Photography and piano” at Villa Borletti , Origgio (Varese)

2019 – Artworks showcase at “Rotary Club Saronno”  – Saronno, (Varese)

2021 – Paviart mostra mercato arte 2021

2021 – PhotoPro Studios Moscow – vincitori Mifa awards 2021 di Mosca

2020 – Articolo con pubblicazione foto copertina sulla rivista arte e design “Living” di Varese (n. 117)

2020 – Mostra personale presso “ Galleria d’arte Quadrifoglio ” a Rho (Milano)

2020 – Mostra personale presso “Sala Veratti”, in centro storico a Varese

2019 – Mostra collettiva presso Galleria “exfabbricadellebambole” di Milano

2019 – Serata concerto ” Fotografia e pianoforte ” presso Villa Borletti di Origgio

2019 – Presentazione opere come artista della serata presso Rotary Club  di Saronno (Varese)

2021 – Paviart – art market exhibition 2021

2021 – PhotoPro Studios Moscow – winners of Mifa awards 2021 Moscow

2020 – Publication with article and cover image on “Living”, Varese art and

design magazine (number 117)

2020 – Solo exhibition at “ Galleria d’arte Quadrifoglio ” – Rho, (Milan)

2020 – Solo exhibition at “Sala Veratti”, storic center, Varese

2019 – Collective exhibition at “exfabbricadellebambole gallery”- Milan

2019 – Music concert for piano and solo exhibition ” Photography and piano” at Villa Borletti , Origgio (Varese)

2019 – Artworks showcase at “Rotary Club Saronno”  – Saronno, (Varese)

- PUBLICATIONS -

2021 – Presente in “URBAN unveils the City and its Secrets”  7° Volume – raccolta dei finalisti di Urban Photo Award 2021

2021 – IPA Annual Book of Photography (as category winner)

2021 – Present in “URBAN unveils the City and its Secrets” 7th Volume – collection of finalists of Urban Photo Award 2021

2021 – IPA Annual Book of Photography (as category winner)

2021 – Paviart – art market exhibition 2021

2021 – PhotoPro Studios Moscow – winners of Mifa awards 2021 Moscow

2020 – Publication with article and cover image on “Living”, Varese art and

design magazine (number 117)

2020 – Solo exhibition at “ Galleria d’arte Quadrifoglio ” – Rho, (Milan)

2020 – Solo exhibition at “Sala Veratti”, storic center, Varese

2019 – Collective exhibition at “exfabbricadellebambole gallery”- Milan

2019 – Music concert for piano and solo exhibition ” Photography and piano” at Villa Borletti , Origgio (Varese)

2019 – Artworks showcase at “Rotary Club Saronno”  – Saronno, (Varese)

- IL FOTOGRAFO...D'AMBIENTI -

– IL FOTOGRAFO…D’AMBIENTI –

Come accennato nella biografia, mi occupo di fotografia anche in canali più commerciali. 

A seguito dei miei viaggi nel mondo ho realizzato un sito e-commerce basato sulla vendita di stampe fotografiche fine art di paesaggio, rivolte al mondo degli interior designers e arredamento in generale.

www.landscapefineart.it

As mentioned in the biography, I also deal with photography in more commercial channels.

Following my travels around the world, I created an e-commerce site based on the sale of fine art landscape photographic prints, aimed at the world of interior designers and furnishings in general.

www.landscapefineart.it

As mentioned in the biography, I also deal with photography in more commercial channels.

Following my travels around the world, I created an e-commerce site based on the sale of fine art landscape photographic prints, aimed at the world of interior designers and furnishings in general.

www.landscapefineart.it

 

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