Beppe Ameglio.
Beppe Ameglio lives and works, alternating his residence, between Pavia and Saint Tropez.
Fifteen years ago he left the profession of manager to devote himself completely to photography and artistic research, influenced in different periods by two great photographers: Luigi Ghirri and Efrem Raimondi.
The reading of essays by Roland Barthes and Marc Augè and the analysis of the artworks of major contemporary artists were fundamental for his artistic maturity: painters, photographers and directors
His photographs have been presented in numerous exhibitions and exhibited in some galleries, both in Italy and abroad. Some artworks have been chosen by set designers and directors to furnish the set during the filming of film and advertising productions.
In addition to the "Converse Art Work" series, his main artworks include the collection "Les Bagneurs de Pampelonne", where the presence of Marc Augè is most noticeable, the "Affiche" series on the division of visual space, the homage to auteur cinema contained in “Frame by Frame”, “Dejeneur sur l'herbe” a collection that investigates the presence of nature in domestic contexts and the series “Abbuffet”, four photographs on the existential solitude of a “non-place”.
Presentation of the "Converse Art Work" series.
The relationship between an object and its representation or its artistic interpretation is the theme of the series of photographs "Converse Art Work".
Can any object or tool lose its specific identity for which it was built to acquire a new dimension in the sphere of art, emerging from the banality of everyday life? The affirmative answer is found in the works of some of the greatest contemporary artists: from Magritte to Duchamp to Man Ray, from Andy Warhol to Jeff Koons.
The object that is at the center of the works with almost maniacal obsession is the Converse All Star shoe; shoe, originally in canvas only, produced for the first time in 1908 in Malden in Massachussets (USA) by Marquis M. Converse. The shoe that owes its initial success to the American basketball player Chuck Taylor, in the seventies and eighties was adopted by many musicians of rock bands including Angus Young, Guns N 'Roses guitarist Slash and Kurt Kobain. In a few years the All Star thus lost their main function of basketball shoes to spread among a young mass audience, becoming a real cult object.
Beppe Ameglio, author of the artworks, goes further in this artistic transformation of the object / shoe by using it in some works as a "container", in others by inserting it in the "scene" as part of the artistic product itself.
The photographs are inspired by the works of painters, photographers and designers. Looking at the photographs, the strong contamination of pop art by Andy Warhol and Basquiat and the influence of American artists of the 80s such as Jack Goldstein and Robert Longo and photographers such as Man Ray, Lee Miller and Van Der Zee is evident. However, there is no lack of artistic interaction with better known works, in particular by Raphael, Picasso and the characters of Renato Guttuso and Enrico Baj. In some of these, the "Converse" is included in the author's original artworks.
