Mani che imbrogliano
Mani che imbrogliano is the second solo show by Alessandra Spranzi at Galleria P420, after Maraviglia (2014) and the group show Lumpenfotografie, towards a photography without vainglory, curated by Simone Menegoi (2012, with Hans-Peter Feldmann, Peter Piller, Joachim Schmid and Franco Vaccari). The new exhibition features recent works and others dating back to 1995, in a sort of punctuation of thought, or vision, that is always in the present but develops over a wider time span.
Alessandra Spranzi works in different ways and forms with the photographic image: she takes photographs of things, photographs of photographs, finding them, cutting them, indicating and erasing them. She intervenes when images and things reach a certain distance from their uses and become, so to speak, unaware of themselves, their possibilities, their beauty.
For Mani che imbrogliano the artist has prepared a grand magic show made with limited – very limited – means. Images from manuals, of objects found or gathered in the street, together with others that have always been there in the wings in our homes, gestures that demonstrate, that try to explain something. Like Harry Houdini, who for 50 cents offered to teach you “how to read folded messages in the dark.” Papers folded in the dark, perhaps with an image inside.
Alessandra Spranzi was born in Milan in 1962, where she still resides.
She studied at the Scuola Politecnica di Design and the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, where she now teaches photography. Since 1992 she has had many solo and group exhibitions: P420, Bologna; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Centre National de la Photographie, Ile de France; Arcade, London; Fondazione del Monte, Bologna; MAMbo, Bologna; Galleria Martano, Turin; MAGA, Gallarate; Galleria Nicoletta Rusconi, Milan; Fotografia Europea, Reggio Emilia; Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Cinisello Balsamo; Galleria Fotografia Italiana, Milan; MAN, Nuoro; GAMEC, Bergamo; Museo Marino Marini, Florence; Galleria Emi Fontana, Milan; Museo Pecci, Prato; Le Magasin, Grenoble; Careof, Cusano Milanino. Since 1997 she has created many publications and artist’s books.
Her latest book Uova, posate e altri oggetti (A&Mbookstore edizioni, Milan) has been published in coordination with the exhibition Mani che imbrogliano.
Exhibition Works
Alessandra Spranzi, Cose che accadono #16, 2002-2005, c-print mounted on alluminium, cm.40x60, ed.5+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, L’ipnotismo illustrato, figura 6 (L’insieme è nero), 2017, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.80x54, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Bicchieri a righe (L’insieme è nero), 2017, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.52,5x80,5, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Tavolo per magia (L’insieme è nero), 2018, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.26x39,5, ed.3+2ap
Alessandra Spranzi, Tavolo per magia con tre scatole e tre stelle (L’insieme è nero), 2018, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.26x39, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, L'ipnotizzatore di animali (L'insieme è nero), 2017, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.39x26, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Maniera di tenere un bicchiere (L’insieme è nero), 2018, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.25x27, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Alluminio per alimenti (L’insieme è nero), 2018, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.21x39, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Tovaglia sospesa (L'insieme è nero), 2017, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.101x148 ed.3+2ap
Alessandra Spranzi, Et Voilà, 2000, digital video and sound, 4’02”
Alessandra Spranzi, Tavolo #2, 2018, works on paper, polaroids, black and white photographs and collages, cm.180x90, detail
Alessandra Spranzi, Tavolo #2, 2018, polaroid montage on paper, cm.160x90, detail
Alessandra Spranzi, Plate 35. Sedum species (Cacti and other succulents), 2017, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.28x19, ed.3+2ap
Alessandra Spranzi, Plate 51. Sedum species (Cacti and other succulents), 2017, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.28x19, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Plate 62. Sedum species (Cacti and other succulents), 2017, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.28x19, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Piatto di porcellana (L’insieme è nero), 2017, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.39,5x26, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, La donna barbuta #1, 2000, -w photograph, cm.26x38, ed.5+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Tre bicchieri (L’insieme è nero), 2018, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.26x39,5, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Maniera di imballare una bottiglia (L’insieme è nero), 2016, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.81x55,5, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Sul tavolo #105, 2018, c-print on aluminium, cm.30x41, ed.3+2ap
Alessandra Spranzi, Sul tavolo #111, 2018, c-print on aluminium, cm.30x41, ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Sul tavolo#113, 2018, c-print on aluminium, cm.30x41, ed.3+2ap
Alessandra Spranzi, Buch der rosen #41 Caprice, #30 Eterna Giovinezza, #37 Queen Mary, #39 Ville de Saverne, 2017, 4 collage, cm.22,5x15 each
Alessandra Spranzi, Nero come il carbone #1, 2018, collage on carbon paper, cm.31x21
Alessandra Spranzi, Nero come il carbone #4, 2018, collage on carbon paper, cm.31x21
Alessandra Spranzi, Foliage pagina 277, 2018, oil on book paper, cm.24,8x18,5
Alessandra Spranzi, Foliage pagina 335, 2018, oil on book paper, cm.24,8x18,5
Alessandra Spranzi, Foliage pagina 339, 2018, oil on book paper, cm.24,8x18,5
Alessandra Spranzi, Foliage pagina Sesto continente (Uccelli in movimento), 1996, 9 gelatin silver prints on baryta paper, cm.26x38 each, ed.5+2ap
Alessandra Spranzi, Cavallo che corre verso destra 30, Cavallo che corre verso sinistra 31 (L’insieme è nero), 2017, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, diptych, cm.28x37,5 each., ed.3+2pda
Alessandra Spranzi, Ragazzo con prototipo (L’insieme è nero), 2016, gelatin silver print on baryta paper, cm.80x51, ed.3+2ap
Alessandra Spranzi, Ein Tisch (Un Tavolo), 2018, digital video and sound, 4’10’’
Alessandra Spranzi, Tavolo #1, 2018, works on paper, polaroids, black and white photographs and collages, cm.180x90