Date: 09/20/2013 - 09/29/2013
Time: All Day
Price: Free, click here for locations
“Free Portrait” comes back to New York. Started by Italian visual artist Gianluca Vassallo in Spring 2013, the photo project has been set in various locations throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, as it will be over the following days, from September 20th to 29th.
Free Portrait is driven by a vision of contemporary art as interaction between the artist and the audience, the medium being just the artist’s ability to build an instant empathy with his subjects. The artist behaves as a “human recorder”, trying to leave a mark in other people’s life by simply sharing a single moment with them.
Wearing a sandwich board that only reads “Free Portrait”, Mr.Vassallo has been taking black and white photos while also conducting an artistic and social experiment for 12 days. As a result, the project is building a collective portrait of the City.
Each photo is neither stolen nor exactly requested by the subjects, who most of the times just bump into the artist on the street. The visible sign on the board saying “Free Portrait” immediately announces an intention and a chance for both the artist and the subject.
Since New York is a city filled with people giving away “Free advices”, “Free poems”, “Free hugs”, this project might be felt as just one more tips-appreciated-moment – attractive and somehow unappealing at the same time. On top of that, what’s clear since the first eye-contact is that more than a photo is concerned here. When they agree to be photographed, people take charge of telling a story. The incipit is made up of their own way to break silence when meeting a stranger.
THE ARTIST. Gianluca Vassallo is an Italian contemporary artist based in Sardinia. His work examines social dimensions of art through photography, video and installations. He’s been producing and composing for film, theatre and dance companies for 15 years. The exhibition “”Sapere Avvenire”" for Palazzo delle Arti di Napoli (PAN) kickstarted his artistic career in 2010. Vassallo is currently known in the Italian art scene as one of the emerging contemporary artists to watch. His works are (or have been) on display at: Schauwerk Museum (Sindelfingen, Germany), MART (Rovereto, Italy), and in various locations throughout Sardinia. He has also recently completed his documentary “”Hope”", focused on Sardinian young talents who moved to New York.
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