
Montagnana, Padova, 1986, 2015 - Olivo Barbieri
about this work
The Italian photographer Olivo Barbieri, who has been working for years with the effects of artificial light on urban and rural landscapes, photographed more than forty towns and cities between 2003 and 2013. Using long exposures for his pictures of cities ranging from Europe to the Far East, his photographs often resemble paintings. As viewers we automatically take the viewpoint of a figure whose back is turned to us - recalling Caspar David Friedrich’s famous Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer (Wanderer above a sea of fog) - and gaze out over a nocturnal, brightly lit, “glowing” city. Lush colors and strong contrasts make these seemingly deserted worlds look surreal and extremely artificial.