Oleg Gant

The art of photography has often been misunderstood in the past, and regarded as an objective representation of reality. Nothing is further from the truth, since it turns out to be an extremely versatile tool, which allows at the same time to analyze a fragment of the sensible world and to project itself into a metaphysical dimension. Oleg Gant's career as a photographer has spanned both extremes, ranging from a documentary filmmaker to an artist. Oleg's creative flair, however, best expresses its essence precisely in this last aspect, as evidenced by the works chosen for the Artoxic exhibition. The artist - making use only of the camera - takes his cue from a bodily and material element to tell a story, capture a moment, induce a fantasy. A shy bather thinks about the fate of the world offers us a direct look at the thoughts that pile up in a tormented mind, which shatter the ego with divisive sensations and emotions. The focus of And bloody bunny in the eyes is an almost phantasmatic apparition of a rabbit, whose silhouette repeats itself obsessively, like the mirror of a recondite and remote fear, capable of suddenly emerging from the darkness in all its terror. Oleg Gant, however, manages to touch an even more intangible level, that of inventiveness, and above all of the incessant work of the imagination. If Firebird captivates the eye with the brilliance of its chromatic nuances, the observer's mind can only focus on the changing nature of the subject represented, which seems to be caught in a moment of transition, of metamorphosis. The artist manages to bring out his irrepressible verve through a masterful use of photography, even without the use of artificial alterations. And above all, it allows us to access his vision of the world, while leaving us free to find a new and personal interpretation.

Art Curator Chiara Rizzatti