Onsernone in photographs at Galleria Officinaarte
Ticino magazine · November–December 2008 · p. 12
Onsernone in fotografia alla Galleria Officinaarte
English translation of the passage concerning Alessandro Vicario. The comparison with Stefano Spinelli is retained because it is integral to the original description. The final paragraph of opening hours is outside this passage; the original article is reproduced in full in the accompanying PDF.
Until 23 November, Galleria Officinaarte in Magliaso presents a distinctive exhibition entitled Un’Onsernone. It unfolds in two sections, with photographs by Stefano Spinelli (Topografie affettive) and Alessandro Vicario (Immobilità apparente). The two artists offer a highly personal and “creative” vision of this mountain valley in the Locarno region. They focus respectively on the energy and magic of its places, between everyday life and utopia, and on the stillness and transformation of the primary elements that have “marked” its history: water and stone.
In Officinaarte’s exhibition spaces, visitors can witness the dialogue and coming together of the photographic languages of two established artists: the Italian-Swiss Stefano Spinelli and the Italian Alessandro Vicario. For their work, the gallerist Flavia Zanetti-Ambrosini, who has a deep personal attachment to this mountain valley in the Locarno region, offered them “her” Onsernone, centred above all on Spruga and Comologno. Following these traces, Spinelli and Vicario have recreated “their” Onsernone, which takes shape in this moving exhibition. From below the village of Auressio, it extends as far as the Bagni di Craveggia and Alpe Salei, passing through Ponte Oscuro, Comologno and Spruga. In different ways and according to their different sensibilities, they have captured the soul of these places.
The photographs of Stefano Spinelli and Alessandro Vicario complement one another and convey very effectively a living, real Onsernone, never emphatic, nostalgic or postcard-like.