| Alessandro Trapezio |
Curated by Antonio Grulli<br>The task assigned to me—writing the bio of Alessandro Trapezio (a request made by him personally)—is, at first glance, a simple one. After all, I have been living with Alessandro for at least nine years now. However, as I think about it, perhaps for this very reason, it is not an easy task. On the contrary, it’s incredibly challenging given how intertwined our lives are. One could even say that writing Alessandro's bio is, in a certain sense, equivalent to writing a part of my own, especially when it comes to my life in Bologna. I moved here about a dozen years ago, and Trapezio joined me shortly after.<br>After spending some time at the Academy of Fine Arts, Alessandro realized that one of the things he most enjoyed was being behind the lens of a camera. He began taking photos as an amateur, and inevitably, some of his first subjects included not just warmhearted classmates but also me and the roommates who have come and gone over the years—above all, the legendary Dani, with whom both Alessandro and I still live.<br>Alessandro quickly developed a taste for photography, and his subjects seemed to appreciate his work as well. Before long, some began asking him to take photos more seriously, commissioning him for projects. For instance, he documented some of my earliest exhibitions, particularly those related to my sculpture project, Fucina. During this early phase of his photography career, his images began appearing in various publications, including the legendary Daemon—a student magazine—or capturing niche musical groups from Italy’s alternative scene, documenting their live performances.<br>From the start, Alessandro’s style stood out for its warm approach, creating images imbued with this unmistakable sensibility. His photographs are deeply rooted in his personal life. There’s almost always a biographical connection between Alessandro and his subjects: the people he spends time with, landscapes and objects tied to personal events (not always explicitly stated), the music and art scenes in Bologna and Italy, a trip with a loved one, a childhood location, friends, or an exhibition he collaborated on. This is also reflected in his style: never cold or detached, but warm, immersed in the subject, partial, subjective, and complicit. It’s evident that Alessandro’s photographs are always born out of a bond of affection with his subjects.<br>From my personal and admittedly selfish perspective, the photos that hold a special place are those born from our intertwined work and friendship. There is now a vast collection—which I hope one day we can exhibit in the right setting—comprising exhibitions, artworks, convivial scenes from openings, artists, and the days spent at home with artists who visited us.<br>If I were to draw comparisons, without venturing too far into the past to evoke (as I’ve done in other texts) the relationships between photographers and cultural scenes like that of Mapplethorpe—or giants like Tillmans, whose work we both admire and whose books and postcards fill our home—a fitting contemporary example might be the young cult photographer Lauren Dukoff. Her portraits of friends in the American and Californian cultural and musical scene bear a striking resemblance in spirit to Alessandro’s work. Just to understand how Alessandro's approach fits perfectly into what constitutes the best photography today. Lastly, I want to point out that Alessandro not only has fun shooting in the coolest places he ends up in. In fact, from a technical point of view, he knows how to stand out: just think about his ongoing collaboration with the super stylish online retailer Yoox, which supports a large portion of Bologna’s photographers. For Yoox, in addition to still life, he also works on numerous special projects. I’ll close by thanking him once again for having been, and still being, my photographic memory for many years of life and work.
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