“Invented worlds” or “ir-realities” are what Paolo Ventura calls the elaborately constructed dioramas that fill the frame of his brooding, dream-like photographs. The Italian-born artist, of the Aperture monograph Winter Stories (Fall 2009), has a new exhibition The Future of the Anarchist opening Saturday, February 25, 2012 at Obsolete Gallery in Venice, CA showcasing his fantastical, moody and meticulously staged images.

In the clip above from 2009, Ventura explains the origin of his project as well as his various inspirations. He also shows the different steps of his work leading to the final photograph–from sketching, to crafting the characters and sets, to setting the lights and taking the polaroids.

A deluxe, limited edition book and print set of Winter Stories is still available for purchase at Aperture. The clothbound collection features 65 four-color images and one unique drawing tipped in, signed and numbered by the artist, alongside an 11 1/2 x 14 in. signed Digital C-print of The Show.

Opening reception:
Saturday, February 25, 2012
6:00-9:00 pm

Exhibition on view:
Saturday, February 25-Saturday, March 24,2012

Obsolete Gallery
222 Main Street
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 399-0024

Ventura has also been featured in Aperture magazine issues 203 and 180.

Automaton #06, 2010. © Paolo Ventura

The Automaton of Venice

Exhibition on view:
September 8th–October 15th, 2011

Hasted Kraeutler:
537 West 24th Street, Ground Floor
New York, NY
(212) 627-0006

The Automaton of Venice by Paolo Ventura is the upcoming exhibit at the Hasted Kraeutler gallery. Using his own hand-made miniature sets and figurines, Italian photographer Paolo Ventura creates fictional photographic narratives set in his native country. Ventura’s series Winter Stories is a staged narrative revolving around a carnival set in a Northern Italian village.  Aperture published Winter Stories as a monograph and a limited-edition book and print box set. Ventura’s work was also featured in Aperture magazine issue 203.

Paolo Ventura is also one of the many artists featured in our upcoming 2011 Benefit & Auction. Click here to preview artworks and start bidding!

By Anna Carnick

Paolo Ventura, self-portrait

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Aperture is pleased to present the second installment of “SNAPSHOT,” a new series of interviews with photography’s luminaries inspired by the Proust Questionnaire.  This week, we spoke with one of our favorite artists, Paolo Ventura.

The Italian-born, Brooklyn-based photographer builds intricate, miniature sets from found objects (often flea market finds) and shoots them to appear life-size, creating haunting, narrative series. “Venice 1943,” an excerpt from his new series L’Automa, is featured in the latest issue of Aperture magazine. Ventura is also included in the new Aperture-Library of Congress co-publication, Photographic Memory: The Album in the Age of Photography, which is the subject of tomorrow’s panel discussion at the Aperture Gallery.

Ventura’s work is presently on display in the Italian national pavilion at the Arsenale at the Venice Biennale. He is also part of Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities, on view now through September at the Museum of Art and Design, NYC.

AC: What is your present state of mind?
PV: Very content. I’m under a pergola of grapes that are just starting to emerge.

How do you describe your personality?
Shy.

What do you think is your greatest strength?
My imagination.

What is your definition of beauty?
A farmhouse in Tuscany during the twenties or thirties.

Name your greatest hero or heroine.
When I was little, Tin Tin. When I was a teenager, the Corto Maltese.  And now I’m too cynical to have a hero.

What do you believe is your greatest achievement as an artist so far?
My most recent show [L'Automa] at the Museo Fortuny in Venice. It has always been one of my favorite museums.

What is the greatest challenge you’ve faced as an artist?
Dealing with gallerists.

Your greatest personal achievement?
Becoming a father.

What is the biggest life lesson you’ve learned so far?
I’ve always been against school. “life lesson” sounds too scholastic for me. I’m not sure life teaches you lessons.

If you weren’t a photographer, what would you be?
A police detective.

Who is your favorite artist, of any genre?
Piero della Francesca. I just saw the Madonna del Parto in Monterchi and it was stunning.

What is your favorite photograph?
A photograph by Ernst Haas. It’s an image of the return of the German veterans from a Russian gulag in the early fifties, and among the crowd there is a woman showing a photograph of her son to these returning veterans. It is communicative, direct, deep, strong. It challenges you—makes you think. It’s what photography can be when it’s really good. It’s also aesthetically nice to look at.

Name a person—living or dead—you’d really like to meet.
Lee Miller.

Do you have a mentor?
My wife, Kim.

The natural talent you wish you’d been born with?
To play music.

For what fault do you have the most tolerance?
I have a twin: I spent nine months sharing a tiny space, so I’m very tolerant of other people.

Your favorite motto?
Ite missa est. (Go—the mass is over.)

Issue 203 features:

Richard Mosse, featured on the Summer cover, negotiates the boundaries of documentary image making

Daido Moriyama discusses a lifetime of work

Mark Alice Durant on Hans- Peter Feldmann’s troves of images

British photographer Helen Sear fuses process and subject

Mo Yi captures street life in China’s cities

Emerging South African photographer Lindeka Qampi

Paolo Ventura’s recent project “Venice 1943”

Click here to subscribe now and get a FREE book!

Images copyright Paolo Ventura

Join internationally acclaimed artist Paolo Ventura for a round table discussion with Aperture book editor Denise Wolff and Cultural Attaché, Embassy of Italy, Renato Miracco as part of the Books and Beyond Series of the Library of Congress’s Center of the Book and to commemorate the gift of two handmade artist albums by Ventura to the Library’s Prints and Photographs Collection. A master of narrative staged photography, Ventura brings his imagined stories to life by building three-dimensional sets in miniature. In his most recent book, Winter Stories, he invents a moving series of photographs depicting scenes from the memory bank of a fictional circus performer as he looks back on his life. The talk will celebrate inspiration and process, presenting a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Winter Stories and sharing stories from Ventura’s life, as well as the elaborate handmade sets, drawings, ephemera, and personal collections that inform his work. He will also be available to sign copies of the book.

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 3:00 pm
Pickford Theater, third floor
Madison Building

Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave S.E.
Washington DC

Click here to view Aperture published monograph Paolo Ventura’s Winter Stories

Thank you to Photo District News for throwing a fabulous party atop Tribeca Rooftop celebrating the the winners featured in the 2010 PDN Photo Annual issue. This year’s issue recognized a number of Aperture books and affiliated photographers  including Jonathan Torgovnik’s Intended Consequences; Doug DuBois’ All the Days and Nights; The Edge of Vision, by Lyle Rexer; Paolo Ventura’s Winter Stories, Eirik Johnson’s Sawdust Mountain; Joel Meyerowitz’s Legacy; and Robert Adam’s Summer Nights, Walking, as well as photographer Gabrielle Stabile who is part of the Aperture Green Cart Project.

Check out the fun had by all, thanks to Fujifilm Instax Cameras! Pictured above: Casey Kelbaugh of Slideluck Potshow, Editor of PDN Conor Risch, Photographer Wyatt Gallery, Andrew Hetherington of Whats the Jackanory, Photographer Gillian Laub and Aperture’s Lesley Martin, Photo Editor of Time Magazine Paul Moakley, Michelle Dunn Marsh, Photographer Paolo Ventura and Aperture’s Denise Wolff, including Photo Annual Winners Gabrielle Stabile, Rachel Barrett and Jon Smith.)

Click here to view PDN’s online gallery of works featured in the 2010 issue.

Paolo Ventura show-and-tell on Winter Stories from Aperture Foundation on Vimeo.

Paolo Ventura presents Winter Stories, opening Thursday, December 10 at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler Gallery in New York City, with an artist’s reception Wednesday, December 9 at 6pm. Paolo’s invented worlds take on a life of their own in his beautiful large-scale prints. To learn more about the project and Paolo’s process, watch an edited excerpt of Paolo Ventura and book editor, Denise Wolff, engaging in a show-and-tell on the book Winter Stories at Aperture Gallery this past October. In this clip, Paolo explains how the Winter Stories project came about with the idea to recreate an invented world around a circus performer. Paolo presents the sets he brought from his studio and explains how he builds them playing with different perspectives. He also shares stories of the different objects in his sets inspired by childhood memories, Fellini movies among others. Then, Denise Wolff, who edited Winter Stories, takes us on a behind-the-scenes book tour revealing the making of this limited-edition monograph.

Paolo Ventura: Winter Stories
Opening Reception: Wednesday, December 9, 2009  6-8pm
Thursday, December 10, 2009—Saturday, January 23, 2010
Hasted Hunt Kraeutler Gallery
537 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 627-0006

Paolo Ventura’s Winter Stories makes a great gift, and is now 30% off as part of Aperture’s Holiday Sale!

Paolo Ventura on Winter Stories from Aperture Foundation on Vimeo.

Watch an interview of artist Paolo Ventura in his studio discussing work from his new book Winter Stories (Aperture, October 2009). In this clip, Ventura explains the origin of the project as well as his inspirations. He also shows the different steps of his work leading to the final photograph, from the drawings, crafting the characters and sets, to his preliminary polaroids.

Join internationally acclaimed artist, Paolo Ventura, for a special evening of show-and-tell on Tuesday, October 13, 6:30 pm. with Aperture’s Book Editor, Denise Wolff, to celebrate Ventura’s new book, Winter Stories. Ventura will display many of his elaborate handmade sets, drawings, ephemera, and personal collections, sharing stories from the book and his life. He will also be available to sign copies of this just-released publication.
Click here for full event details.

Click here to purchase Winter Stories from Aperture.

Click here to view more interviews and multimedia features from Aperture.

Paolo Ventura is now on press at Editoriale Bortolazzi-Stei in Verona, Italy for his upcoming Aperture title Winter Stories. Paolo Ventura invents an imaginative series of photographs depicting scenes from the memories of an old circus performer as he looks back on his life. The book will also include ephemera from Ventura’s working process as well as the artful drawings he creates as guides to his elaborate sets. Check out this exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the publishing process and get a sneak peek at his book to be released this fall.