Massimo Vitali

From atop a homemade platform 12 to 15 feet high, Massimo Vitali observed and photographed his Italian compatriots on the beach, in the disco, at airports and in shopping areas. In the process he created razor-sharp, detailed photos that consciously borrow from genre painting of the 19th century.

Vitali isolates concrete moments in anonymous clusters of people and directs the observer’s gaze to diverse slices of reality. Again and again, individual characters and narrative moments evolve out of the coincidental meetings. In capturing and bringing together the fleeting images, Vitali simultaneously delivers sociological findings about the society in which he lives.