Exactly 21 years ago, in 1991, I organized the first great photographic exhibition at Via Della Spiga in Milan for Giovanni Gastel, at the time a very young and excited collaborator of “Donna”, the magazine whose I have been editor in chief for years. Now Giovanni is not here any longer, but both the regret and the memory remain of a brilliant artist who returns to via della Spiga in Milan thanks to an open air exhibition, "Flower", curated by Denis Curti, from 20 September to 4 October.
The floral theme had often been contemplated by me together with Giovanni Gastel, while he was carrying out his artistic research which he began at a very young age, in 1982, especially on our two most important magazines of those years, “Donna” and “Mondo Uomo”. This topic came back a long time later, after I left the publishing world, even if not toatally, so I decided to evaluate this subject for a tradition breaking exhibition in my new Myowngallery at Superstudio Più, where I experimented contrasting artistic languages ​​in different mixes.
Speaking about contemporary art starting from flowers seemed then an oxymoron. Those were times when cultivated photography and avant-garde art did not deal with romantic themes. They were not looking for beauty, but rather for provocation, politics, shock. I did not wanted anything of all that for this first exhibition which in my intentions should to look beyond, rescuing beauty and also romance and elegance.