ATLAS Gallery X Franco Fontana Studio Top 20 Picks
ONLINE EXHIBITION
Italian photographer, Franco Fontana (b.1933, Modena) is best known for his abstract colour landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes. To celebrate his 90th birthday this week and his incredible career, ATLAS Gallery and the Franco Fontana Studio have selected 20 of his most famous and distinctive works.
in this online exhibition, discover a selection of his iconic colour Basilicata landscapes, works from his Presenza-Assenza series, incredible Seascapes and some works which have never been exhibited before!
“Sometimes I find a landscape so irresistible that I forget everything else. I let go of any desires, anger and expectations. I let go of the idea of the past and the future and I remain alone, with my camera and the landscape. I let it permeate me: I become the landscape and the landscape becomes me. I live it. I allow the landscape to fill my void, to fill me with happiness and just then I shoot. I like to say that the landscape takes a self-portrait through me.”
Franco Fontana began his career in the early 1960s and quickly gained prominence for his distinctive approach to colour composition and abstract imagery. His works were stylistically disruptive, challenging the prevalent practices and structures set, as well as the notion that black and white photography was considered more suitable for serious artistic expression.
Fontana is always searching for and finding harmony and beauty in the interplay of light and colour. His work features bold and vibrant colours, capturing landscapes, urban scenes, and everyday objects in a way that transforms them into abstract and visually striking compositions. His daring use of colour and the influence of Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism in this work have earned him comparisons to the work of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman.
Fontana has exhibited his work in more than 400 exhibitions across Europe, the US and Asia. His work is held in the collections of Museum Fine Art Boston, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Modern Art (Paris), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (Japan), George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film (Rochester) and many more. He has won several awards and published multiple books.
