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Christian Tagliavini

1503
09.28.12 - 10.21.12
Exhibition — les Abattoirs, Musée – Frac Occitanie Toulouse

Christian Tagliavini
Cecilia, 1503  series (2010)
Courtesy Gallery Esther Woerdehoff, Paris
Photo: Nicolas Brasseur, Le Printemps de Septembre 2012

Christian Tagliavini
1503, photographic series (2010)
Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Mrs Esther Woedehoff, Paris
Photo : Nicolas Brasseur, Le Printemps de Septembre 2012

Christian Tagliavini
Ritratto di giovane donna1503 series (2010)
Courtesy Gallery Esther Woerdehoff, Paris
Photo: Nicolas Brasseur, Le Printemps de Septembre 2012

Born 1971 in Switzerland, he lives and works in Lugano (Switzerland).  

 

Cutting a suit for the history of art


Christian Tagliavini studied in Italy and Switzerland, where he became a graphic designer and photographer. In his little photography studio in Lugano he likes to create meticulously detailed stagings in which everything is carefully planned. “I feel I am still a debutant,” says this modest autodidact. “I see myself as an artisan. I don’t feel as if I’m an artist.”

 

The 1503 series on show at les Abattoirs – Musée Frac Occitanie Toulouse was originally a set of nine portraits that the artist worked on throughout 2010. Inspired by the Italian Renaissance, its title references the year when Bronzino, the famous Mannerist painter whom Tagliavini reveres, was born. Once again, Tagliavini himself made the period costumes worn by his models. The faces of these physically very present women and men contrast with the sophistication and solemnity of the costumes. The intimacy of the human face and the social theatre of clothing, contemporary models and historical clothing – while never forgetting to create beautiful images, Tagliavini sets up a constant dialogue between past and present.

 

In 2008 he took part in the Journées Photographiques in Biel (Switzerland) and in the sixth Biennale dell’ Immagine in Chiasso (Switzerland). In 2011 Galerie Cons Arc (Chiasso) put on his first solo exhibition: Quadreria Privata. That year he also took part in the Mia Art Fair in Milan, and then at Paris Photo, while the Dietmar/Noble gallery in London gave him a solo show entitled Cut Out and Keep.