Valentina Angeloni graduated in Literature and Philosophy before specializing in interiors, art, and portrait photography. Inspired by the art of the American avant-gardes and the work of photographer Ugo Mulas, her artistic research focuses on reality and its interpretation, on the boundary between exterior and interior, objectivity and perception, in order to create allegorical images with found elements. Her personal work has been exhibited since 2011 in solo and group shows in Italy, Switzerlad, Germany and the UK.
She lives in Milan where she works with architects, designers and artists, and collaborates with art and design magazines. Among her clients: Audemars Piguet, Osvaldo Borsani Archive, Hummus Studio, Matteo Fantoni Studio, Tomo Architects, Surface Magazine. Her commercial photography has been published on Corriere della Sera, Living Magazine, PIN UP Magazine, Surface Magazine, Platform Magazine.
IG. valeangeloni
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EXHIBITIONS
Nov – Dec 2022: group show – ‘Storie della fine dell’anno’ – Galleria Anna Maria Consadori, Milan
June – July 2022: solo show – ‘Uno sguardo sull’Oltrepò’, Palazzo Comunale, Fortunago
July – Sept. 2021: group show – ‘L’eredità di Dante ‘ – Auditorium Azzaretti, Fortunago
Nov. 2020 – Jan. 2021: group show – ‘Un anno vissuto pericolosamente’ – Galleria Consadori, Milan
6-9 Feb. 2020: group show – ‘Window as Seelenfenster (Soul Window)‘ NOMAD ST MORITZ, Samedan
Nov. 19- Dec. 23, 2019: group show – ‘68 Pezzi Facili’ – Galleria Anna Maria Consadori, Milan
April 2019: group show – ‘Io non sono roba tua’ – Spazio TBS, Milan
Oct. 20- Nov. 30, 2018: group show – ‘Cerco un coccodrillo’ – Galleria Cart, Monza
Sept. 13 – Oct. 20, 2018: group show – ‘Shiny White Metal. The Silver Ages’ – Galleria Consadori, Milan
May 30 – June 20, 2017: group show – INTERNO-ESTERNO – Galleria Anna Maria Consadori, Milan
April 2016: group show – ‘Week Gallery’, Fuori Salone del Mobile 2o17 c/o Viganò Real Estate, Milan
Nov. 25 – Dec. 23, 2015: group show – LUCI DI NATALE – Galleria Anna Maria Consadori, Milan
Sept 22 – Oct 17, 2015: group show – BLU – Galleria Anna Maria Consadori, Milan
Nov – Dec 2013: solo show – LES FENETRES – Artisanal boutique, Milan
July – Sept. 2013: group show – Catch a Glimpse – Galerie Filser & Graf, Munich
June – July 2013: group show – Album, raccontare con la luce – Garage Bonci, Pietrasanta
June 2012: group show – ‘Photosynthesis – the Green Show‘ – Studio Nerino, Milan
July – Sept. 2011: group show – Gallery Fumi, Porto Cervo
July – Sept. 2011: open studio - ‘FINESTRA.E Variazioni’ – Studio Nerino, Milan
Feb – April 2011: solo show – ‘Let Me See‘ – Gallery Fumi, London
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PROJECT COMMISSIONS AND SPECIAL MENTIONS
Sept. 23 – Oct. 6, 2019: Artist Showcase – “La Tenda Experience |Woman” – La Tenda boutique, Milan
Nov. 2015: Photography Benefit Auction, Scatti per Bene, CAF/Sotheby’s Milan
Nov. 2014: Photography Benefit Auction Scatti per Bene, CAF/Sotheby’s Milan
Nov. 2013: site specific project commission for CAF – Scatti per Bene, Sotheby’s Milan
June 2013: Benefit Auction for Minotauro, Milan
Nov. 2011: portfolio selected for publication @ Le Journal de la Photographie
Sept. 2011: Photodreaming 2011 Award – Forma Foundation, Milan
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ABOUT THE WINDOW SERIES
“IN OCTOBER 1949, AT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART IN PARIS, I NOTICED THAT THE WINDOWS INTERESTED ME MORE THAN THE ART EXHIBITED IN THE ROOMS.” ELLSWORTH KELLY
My interest in windows first sparked when I was little, out of curiosity for the world and its many possibilities. I began photographing windows in summer 2003 while studying Interior Design at Parsons School in New York. Those pictures were initially intended as inspiration archive of window frames, hinting at different interiors and room shapes. After about 2 years I realized that I was no longer interested in something other than the windows themselves, so beautiful in their infinite variety.
During the past years I photographed mostly in America and Europe, collecting temporary states in which, I believe, chance and perspective concur in making windows transcend their function to acquire aesthetic value and artistic expression. This work comes out both from recognizing images already present in reality and from finding for those reality elements other meanings. It focuses on the window surface, rather than its transparency, in order to shift the attention from nowadays voyeuristic approach to our inner selves, to the pleasure of interpretation, daydream, imagination, and to empathic emotion. I see windows as possibilities.
I divided this material in four categories which illustrate my choices:
Found (Homages): ‘abstract’ compositions, homages, mainly inspired by the art of the Avantgardes.
Performing Windows: windows that seem to perform for the viewer, presenting unusual and surprising things.
Thoughts: windows as mirrors, images in which I express my thoughts using windows.
Stories: windows shot from the inside, psychological spaces, leading to empathy.
Excluding passage by definition, windows in my work become two-dimensional objects, their aesthetic integrity in my looking at them and not through them. A collection of stills that seem to bring the Ellsworth Kelly quote I found in 2008, written on a wall at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (image above), to its extreme consequence.
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Valentina Angeloni (Milano, 1978) incomincia a fotografare finestre nell’estate del 2003, mentre studia Interior Design alla Parsons School di New York. Nel 2006 si laurea con lode in Lettere Moderne all’Univesità Statale di Milano, con una tesi in Estetica sui loft americani come spazi della produzione artistica. Dal 2006 al 2010 vive a New York e lavora alla galleria di design e arte Moss, continuando a fotografare. Il suo lavoro è stato esposto per la prima volta nel 2011.
Inteso inizialmente come sistema di riferimento per gli studi di design e architettura, il suo archivio fotografico si evolve in quattro serie di immagini che catturano stati temporanei dove le finestre sembrano trascendere la loro funzione per assumere un valore estetico e artisticamente espressivo.
Nelle fotografie della serie Found Paintings le finestre sono viste dall’esterno e il loro contesto architettonico si fonde con quello che si intravede o si riflette in superficie, creando un oggetto nuovo quale immagine di una speciale armonia compositiva che, a volte, può ricordare alcune correnti artistiche. Le Performing Windows sembrano allestire una performance per lo spettatore presentando cose e situazioni insolite o sorprendenti. Nelle Stories le finestre, scattate dall’interno, arrivano a rappresentare lo spazio psicologico di chi vi abita provocando l’empatia dell’osservatore. Le immagini più concettuali, quelle che appartengono alla serie dei Thoughts, nascono da associazioni personali che l’artista-fotografa immagina al momento dello scatto.
Queste fotografie, frammenti di vita quotidiana raccolti nell’arco di otto anni, intendono mostrare come la cornice della finestra possa trasformarsi, suscitando emozioni e stimolando l’immaginazione esattamente come l’arte può fare. Nel lavoro di Valentina Angeloni le finestre, che già escludono l’idea di passaggio, diventano oggetti bidimensionali, la cui integrità estetica si risolve nel guardare a loro e non attraverso di loro. “Uso la superficie delle finestre – non la loro trasparenza – per distogliere dallo sguardo voyeuristico predominante oggi e portare l’attenzione dentro di noi, al nostro piacere interpretativo”.