IMAGES
    WORDS
Mark
   IMAGES
    WORDS
Mark
BIO

Luca Massaro is an artist, photographer and co-founder of Gluqbar in Milano. During a degree in Foreign Literatures and Linguistics at Università Cattolica Milano and Université Sorbonne Paris IV, he started a research at the intersection of Images and Words.

His professional early beginnings in writing, graphics and commercial imaging, continue to inform his practice, challenging disciplinary boundaries between photography, art direction, architecture, design, arts & crafts. Recent magazine collaborations and features include Purple, Aperture, i-D, Vogue, FOAM, M Le Monde, GQ, Domus..

His first work Foto Grafia was published by Danilo Montanari Editore and exhibited at F4 Festival, Matèria, T14 Contemporary, Benetton Foundation (Nascimben Prize U25).

The following project Vietnik has been exhibited in solo shows at Viasaterna Milano, Metronom Gallery, Spazio Duale Roma, Centrale Festival and in collective exhibitions at Fotografia Europea, Museo MAR, Chiostri di San Domenico, Fonderia Napoleonica, Peckham 24, Minimum, Nexst. The book was published by Gluqbar Editions in April 2019, thanks to the Energie Diffuse Grant, selected among the finalists of the Portfolio Review Düsseldorf, Cosmos PDF Award Rencontres d'Arles, GAI, Premio Fabbri, featured in the Aperture Photobook Review Ideal Bookshelf and presented by Printed Matter at NYABF 2019. 
Since 2020, he’s represented by Viasaterna.


STATEMENT

My work focuses on the invisible space that separates an image from its caption, photographs from words, in their different forms of production, translation and transmission.

I’m interested in the intrinsic duality of the photo-graphic medium, and its tie to the performative construction of identities. I’m looking for possible convergences between the new uses of photography and the long tradition of image-text interplay, the creation of a cohesive body of work and its decontextualization by internet distribution and immediacy.

Via photographs, words, sculptures, artist books, and through advertising techniques of manipulation borrowed from the urban and online accelerated mediascape – as the proliferation of backlit devices, the repetition of graphic logos and leitmotifs –, my work is an open research on the paradoxes of language, a portrait of the conflicting hybridization of iconotexts today, questioning the cultural, social and political value of the images that stick to our psyche and shared worldview.


EDUCATION
2014

Degree in Literatures, Communication, Media at Università Cattolica Milano and Université Sorbonne Paris IV
Thesis: “Foto Grafia - il rapporto tra immagine fotografica e parola nell'era contemporanea, dalle arti visive alla comunicazione” 



ARTIST BOOKS
        MONOGRAPHS

Dizionario Vol.1 - Art Paper Editions, 2022
Vietnik - Gluqbar Editions, 2019

Foto Grafia - Danilo Montanari Editore, 2015


        ZINES

L'Aquila e La Rana - Gluqbar Editions, 2014
Ukiyo-e - Edizioni PulcinoElefante, 2014
Ukiyo-e - BooksOnLine.fr, 2013




PUBLICATIONS
        PRINTED PUBLICATIONS

Metafotografia Vol.2 - Skinnerboox (curated by Mauro Zanchi & Sara Benaglia)
222 Artisti Emergenti Su Cui Investire 2021 - Exibart Edition (curated by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi)
Looking On - MAR Museum (curated by Osservatorio Fotografico)
2016 Sulla Nuova Fotografia Italiana - Viasaterna (curated by Fantom)


        MAGAZINES

Aperture PhotoBookReview, D La Repubblica, FOAM Magazine, Flash Art, InsideArt, M Le Monde, Purple Magazine, Rivista Studio, Rolling Stone, Sali & Tabacchi..


        ONLINE PUBLICATIONS

AnOther, Aperture, Artribune, ATP, Bullett, Creative Review, Dazed, Domus, Flash Art, Fotocrazia Blog LaRepubblica, Generazione Critica, HERO, i-D, Lampoon, Living Corriere, M Le Monde, Paper Journal, Rolling Stone, SPBH, VICE, Vogue.it, W Magazine, YET, Zero.eu..




SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019

See Both Sides - Viasaterna Milano
The White Room The Black Room - Spazio Duale Roma
Darkroom - Centrale Festival (curated by Marco Paltrinieri)


2018

Gluqbar - Chiostri di San Domenico Reggio Emilia (curated by Daniele De Luigi and Ilaria Campioli)

COMME des GRENOUILLES - Edicola Radetzky Milano
La Tendenza - Marsèlleria Milano


2017

Seeing Double - Metronom Modena 


2015

Foto Grafia – F4 Festival Treviso/Pieve di Soligo (curated by Carlo Sala and Gianpaolo Arena)
Quasi-Quasi – Matèria Gallery Roma (2 days installation)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022

Abbecedario Fotografico, Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì
Overview, Viasaterna Milano


2021

Istituto Italiano di Cultura, IIC Montevideo Uruguay
Photo London 2021 Viasaterna Digital Booth 
Abecedario d’Artista, Palazzo del Governatore Parma
Premio Fabbri,Villa Brandolini Treviso


        2020

Photo Open Up, Museo Degli Eremitani / Cappella Degli Scrovegni Padova (curated by Carlo Sala)
Metafotografia, BACO Arte Contemporanea (curated by Mauro Zanchi & Sara Benaglia)
Spazio Libero Public Billboards Reggio Emilia (curated by Ilaria Campioli & Daniele De Luigi) 


2019

Centrale, The Others Fair Torino (curated by Luca Panaro)
Future Shock, Fonderia Napoleonica (curated by Francesca Marani & Marco Gehlhar)
Dancing in Peckham, Peckham 24 (slideshow selected by Photoworks UK, Webber Gallery & Der Greif)

Looking On, Sguardi e Prospettive sulla Nuova Fotografia Italiana, MAR Museum (curated by Federica Chiocchetti,

project by Osservatorio Fotografico)


2018

Confotografia - Triennale di Milano
Mōmentum - Minimum, Comodo64 / Nesxt / Torino
Comrade Animal - Villa Vertua Milano 

(Gluqbar – curated by Parasite 2.0)

Telemarket, Gluqbar - Photo Week Milano

Mōmentum, Mo[t]us Operandi - Minimum Manifesta collaterals, Palermo (curated by Minimum, selected by Marina Paulenka)

Retina, Gluqbar, Milano


2017 

Finissage, Twenty14 Contemporary, Milano
Narrativa / Visual Essays, Twenty14 Contemporary, Milano
Premio Francesco Fabbri, Villa Brandolini, Pieve di Soligo


2016

Sideways, Palazzo Casotti Fotografia Europea Festival Reggio Emilia (curated by Daniele De Luigi & Ilaria Campioli)
2016 On New Italian Photography, Viasaterna publishing selection (curated by Fantom)
Last but not least New Italian Photobooks, JEST Torino


2015

Little Big Press, FotoGrafia Festival, MACRO Roma (curated by Tre Terzi)
On Landscape #2, Matèria Gallery Rome (book selection)


2014

Uno Sguardo Lento, MIA (curated by Danilo Montanari)
Confotografia Travelling exhibitions, Urban Center Bologna, Scuola Architettura Siracusa, Biennale Spazio Pubblico Roma
Premio Francesco Fabbri, Villa Brandolini, Pieve di Soligo
Premio Nascimben, Fondazione Benetton Treviso (curated by Carlo Sale and Gianpaolo Arena)
Confotografia, SI Fest #23 Savignano
Fotografia e Parola Premio Prina, Galleria Ghiggini Varese
Fotografia e Parola Premio Prina, Triennale Milano
Mo(nu)ment, ARCI Fotografia Europea OFF, Reggio Emilia
Ukiyo-e, Free is Free, Galerie du Point Ephémère, Paris

PRIZES / RESIDENCIES

Energie Diffuse Grant Reggio Emilia
COSMOS PDF Award shortlist, Rencontres Arles 2018
Metronom Summer Residency - "Seeing Double" 2017
LIVEstudio#3 - Shortlisted,  2017
Premio Francesco Fabbri - Shortlisted,  2016
Giovani Artisti Italiani - Fotografia Europea, 2016
Portfolio Review Düsseldorf - Shortlisted, 2016
Premio Francesco Fabbri - Shortlisted, 2014
Premio Nascimben - Winner U25 Prize, 2014
Premio Prina - Shortlisted, 2014
Confotografia, Residency - L'Aquila, 2013
Urban Center Nuoro, Residency - Nuoro, 2012


TALKS / PUBLIC SPEAKING

Triennale Museum - Tonight We Are Young
Gluqbar Studio Talks - Various Workshops
Roche Portrait Photography - Milano
Workshop Immagine-Parola - Istituto Italiano di Cultura Montevideo
Captionissima Viasaterna Milano - in conversation with Federica Chiocchetti
Vietnik Workshop & Book Launch - Chiostri Fotografia Europea Reggio Emilia LiveStudio #3 - Galleria Civica Modena x Metronom, Februrary 2017
2016 - On New Italian Photography / Publishing - Viasaterna Milano
The Life of Vietnik - NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, February 2016
Foto Grafia - Università de L'Aquila, September 2013
Foto Grafia - Urban Center di Nuoro, November 2012


SELECTED COMMISSIONED WORKS
SELECTED CLIENTS & PUBLICATIONS

A Cold Wall
Adidas
Alla Carta
AnOther
Aperture
Dazed Digital
D La Repubblica
FOAM
GQ
i-D
M Le Monde
Max Mara Group
Noisey
PIG Quarterly
Purple Magazine
Retrosuperfututre
Rivista Studio
Rolling Stone
Sali & Tabacchi
Vice
Vogue
W Magazine


COLLECTIONS

Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Montevideo
Collezione Regione Emilia Romagna Arte Contemporanea
Premio Nascimben Fondazione Benetton
Private Collections
Enquire @ Viasaterna


CREDITS

Web Design by Gluqbar Studio
© 2022 Luca Massaro. All rights reserved