BIO

I was born in Battipaglia, where I live, in 1983.

I studied at the F. Menna art institute of Salerno and after that I attended a photography school in Naples.I worked immediately as a photographer, specializing in children portraiture. Since 2009 I mixed such media with the papercutting technique: that’s how the ‘Fantasic Bestiary’ was born , a project to which I’m dedicated since 2013.

I am curious about popular forms of devotion and superstition, for example, the ex-votos, the canivets, the religious iconography, as well as the Mexican folklore. I really admire artists like Amparo Sard, Elsa Mora, Vivian Maier, to whom I feel close in technique and imagination, but I’m also attracted by the Folk Art and the Outsider Art, particularly those artists who deal with the popular issues mentioned above.

A story about me in 10 images…

Let’s start from a photo that reveals two fundamental aspects of mine: a deep shyness and a gret love for cats, my subjects, my assistants, first and last thought of my day...
The beauty of papercutting so consists in the fact that, being surrounded by technology, it forces you to use old tools such as paper, knives and awls... and cats.
Papercutting has the peculiarity to give so much, starting from so little... the tools used are few and very simple, therefore you must use a great amount of imagination, as well as a Zen monk patience...
The subconscious often suggests new ideas to me and images full of overtones, nuances, hidden meanings or double meanings, sometimes they’re even full of irony... and that is what I love most about my job.
The "Fantastic Bestiary" starts here: the selfie snapped playfully, which revealed the way to me. From then on, an avalanche of creative opportunities has started...
A sudden shot by Simone Fiorani catching me while portraying Tony Torimbert, from which you can guess how the "Fantastic Bestiary" forces me into the countinuous research between face and figure.
This picture I sought so much on the tree, but I was not successful until I turned it in black and white: thus the branches like lace, the clouds as hair... and a magical mermaid flew off!
The snake is a figure that, at some point, I dropped out because it was particularly difficult... Until I met Francesca who, without knowing anything, explicitly asked me to photograph her with the silhouette of a snake... coincidences can produce beautiful results...
This pic, may not be my best one, but it demonstrates the endless curiosity that characterizes me: an eye for eccentricity, coincidences, shapes and reflections, always looking for new poetic suggestions...
How could I miss publishing my most famous picture, the one that moved so much curiosity and hype around me, which I was not prepared to... but it excites me every time I find it around, welcomed with lots of praises...

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