D.A.S.2.MrWARD - Edition of 10 Photograph

Vincenzo Laera began his creative career in the 1980s in the fashion industry of his hometown of Milan. He began working as a freelancer for magazines such as Lei and Per Lui early on and collaborated regularly with South African photographer Koto Bolofo. In the late 1980s, Laera, just 20 years old, became a member of Helmut Newton's team.   1989 he moved to New York City. Till 2005 Laera collaborated on projects with Newton and photographers like Albert Watson, Irving Penn, Brigitte Lacombe, Deborah Tuberville, Bert Stern, Greg Gorman, and Annie Leibovitz. During this time, Laera worked for magazines like Icon, GQ, Spiegel, InStyle, TenMag or Kaltblut and some notable experiences include being a photographer in residence at the Stadttheater Trier, recently at Volksbüne in Berlin and the opportunity to collaborate in a freelance base with a variety of different Dance and Theatre companies.   Laera's photography is dedicated to the exploration of the human body, beauty, and eros. It reflects the experiences he has made with the icons of fashion photography. His work is likewise impacted by the high contrast stylish that picture takers built up during the 1980s and 1990s. At the same time, Laera's work is determined by the intensive examination of art and cultural history. Raised in a Catholic family, his work references the traditions of Christian iconography, Italian Renaissance and early Baroque art.   At the same time, Laera refers to the formal compositions of classical nude photography and the " Neues Sehen", the „New Vision“ in the photography of the 1920s. His experiments with light and shadow emphasize the sculptural aspect of the body and the connection with its architectural surroundings. Many of Laera's series oscillate between documentation and staging, control and spontaneity. They also question the boundaries between subject and object. Laera, who often accompanies his models over a long period of time, arranges them in strict formal compositions, often like sculptures in space, and models them with light. He juxtaposes these images with spontaneous shots that also focus on the pictorial composition but underline the vulnerability and individuality of his counterpart in front of the camera.