Photo Exhibit Opens at Larchmont Library

The Larchmont Public Library is opening its Oresman Gallery for the New Year with a month-long joint exhibition featuring Italian photographers Paolo Cardone and Mauro Presutti. The artists, both originally from Campobasso, Italy, showcase a certain side of a particular city; Cardone presents New York while Presutti presents Campobasso.

Cardone, a highly respected fine art, street and wedding photographer in both the United States and Italy, presents "Silent City," a body of work that examines a quiet view of New York City, away from the hustle and bustle and great noise that it is so commonly associated with. 

Commenting on his work, Cardone said that Italians generally view New York as a constantly moving city where "people go fast," which is why he attempts to portray the city as a "quiet landscape," not unlike Campobello, in his photographs. 

Most of Cardone's works feature very few, if any, people, and there is a very strong emphasis on architecture and statues.  However, the pictures that do have a human element tend to show very strong contrasts of motion, with a steady subject on a hectic background, or vice versa. 

Some works deal with nature in the city, including waterfronts, landscapes and birds. There is one particularly remarkable image that captures what seems to be a statue in an attempt to reach toward a passing bird. 

Presutti, who is also a highly respected and versatile photographer, brings to town "The Involuntary Theater," a black and white study of Campobello's Procession of the Mysteries, which happens on the Sunday of the city's spring Corpus Domini festival. 

The pictures in the exhibition were all taken over six years, between 1992 and 1997.  During the procession, the history of the church and the lives of saints are depicted on several floats, which are pulled by local convicts. Children are suspended over the floats, making them seem like floating angels. This elaborate ceremony also features one of the townspeople dressed as the devil. Making the rounds along the procession, he strikes fear in the hearts of the children, who believe that they are genuinely seeing Satan. 

While shots of the parade are included in the exhibit, most of it features pictures of the children and the equipment behind the scenes in the lead up to the parade.

The exhibit formally opens this Sunday, Jan. 3, 2010, at 12 p.m., and will continue through Saturday, Jan. 30. The Larchmont Public Library is on 121 Larchmont Ave., across the street from Village Hall.

Paolo Cardone can be found online at http://www.paolocardone.it, and at http://www.flickr.com/photos/paolocardone/