Maurizio Anzeri:

He is an Italian contemporary artist who makes portraits by sewing into vintage photographs. He was born in 1969 in Loano, Italy.  He now lives and works in London. He works with a wide range of media: sculpture, drawing, photography, and more. Anzeri attended Camber Well College of Arts and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree. He then went on to complete a Master’s in Fine Art Sculpture. He is a well renowned artist whose work is often utilised in the GCSE Art curriculum. In his work, he uses antiquated pictures he found and transforms them into canvasses. Maurizio Anzeri is often regarded as a pioneer in the art of embroidery on old photos. He was inspired by images of his relative mending fishing nets in Italy and due to this, he wanted to explore his family history. Embroidery was chosen as it was a highly expressive tool for his work. Design boom Architecture and Design Magazine said in an article published in 2012, “Anzeri’s elaborate needle-work set against somber backgrounds results in sharp juxtaposition, and despite the history of both the technique and the images used, he produces work which treads new ground.” He has exhibited his work at The Saatchi Gallery, which received large coverage and significant attention from the media. It was an “explosion of new and vigorous forms which demonstrate the strength of contemporary art.” Rewards include the 2010 Vauxhall Collective Prize for Fine Art. Many people see this artist’s work as daring and bold.

 

Looking at his work, I am especially struck by his use of bold colours and unconventional designs. I think the way he creates different images in his embroidery evokes a lot of emotion. When seeing each image, they seem like costumes in a sense protecting the person in the image. On the other hand, each piece of his work is striking as the contrast between the black and white aged photographs and the coloured thread used makes the meaning behind those images more impactful.

 

When talking about the photography behind his work, Maurizio explained that “he is more interested in its use as an object than its process.”. He believes that when capturing a moment in a photograph, it is truly fascinating. Maurizio explained that he doesn’t regard the old pictures used as restoring something from the past, “I don’t want to be nostalgic when I work on them, to me they become very present.” He believes that what makes his artwork work, is that, “the image and the embroidery at the top feed each other”. Looking at the embroidery aspects, Aniza regards it as feeding another dimension and that the action of puncturing the image with the needle, “is an action of penetration”. In the past people have told him is that the characteristics of his work covers when there is nothing to cover.

 

I analysed this piece of work because I was struck by how captivating the composition was. To begin with, when taking this image, Aniza has used a highly emotive pose to provoke and enhance the effect on the audience. The lighting used was most definitely a ring light or concentrated light from the front as certain parts of the body are specifically highlighted. A medium angle is used and the body is not cropped out of the image. This is very specific and a common characterisation of his work. A wide aperture is often utilised in his work, as the lower the f-stop, the more light is let into the cameras. This image in particular has a high light concentration. It is also quite highly exposed, which means that the image is a lot lighter. In contrast some of the older photographs used have a higher f-stop and a lower exposure, because the cameras used at the time did not have a wide range of aperture settings. His images are frequently monochromatic, which means that they have been extremely desaturated. In terms of the sewing, Maurizio Aniza has used it to enhance the expression shown in the image. The arrangement of it emphasises the mouth and eyes some of the most expressive parts of this image.