He was born in Casalgrande in the Province of Reggio Emilia (Italy), where he still lives and works. He founded the Il Torrione Photographic Group with some friends and with them promoted a project, the “199 / A” curated by Roberto Margini, the only one of its kind in the Italian panorama, which in the space of 10 years led Il Torrione to appear in the international limelight.
Museum of Modern Art in New York. After various exhibitions in Italy, he was invited to exhibit in Dunakeszi next Budapest. One of his photographs is present at the Sharjah Art Museum in the United Arab Emirates, in the Lishui Museum in China and at the Italian Center of Author’s Photography in Bibbiena (AR). In 2011 and 2012 Seat Pagine Gialle in Turin used his photographs for the covers of its books. In 2014 one of his photographs was included in an exhibition, the result of a European project “Museumcultorum”, and exhibited in the various museums of the partner countries of this project. In 2015 he won the first prize at the national photographic exhibition “Summer School Emilio Sereni Award – I Paesaggi del Cibo”, with a photograph that was then exhibited at the Milan Expo.
In 2017 he exhibited at the Gallery of Modern Art in Sassuolo (MO) and at the Biennale “ArteInFiera” Città di Scandiano (RE) where he won the first prize for photography. In June he exhibited in Forte Dei Marmi in the “Fotografia D’Arte” event, organized by LamarguttianArTe and from December to January 2018 he exhibited in the eighteenth-century Villa of the La Meridiana Club in Casinalbo di Formigine (MO), both projects curated by Barbara Ghisi. In April his photographs were exhibited at the Wikiarte gallery in Bologna. In June he exhibited at the Ludovico II Halls at the Palazzo Ducale in Revere di Borgo Mantovano (MN) and in November one of his photographs was present in the exhibition and in the catalogue of “Arte Padova”. In 2019 from 17th to 19th May he exhibited at the Biennale “ArteInFiera” Città di Scandiano (RE) and from 1st to 4th June at “ArteInFiera” in Correggio (RE). In October, he exhibited one of his photographs at the cultural and artistic event “Un Artista Un’Opera”, curated by the art critic Franco Bulfarini, in collaboration with the Banca di San Felice 1893 Ravarino Branch. From 26thOctober to 7th November he exhibited at the OnArt Gallery in Florence in a collective of painters, sculptors and photographers entitled “Still Leben Natura Silente”.
On 24th and 25th November and 1st December he participated in the Artistic Event “Arte Cibo per l’Anima”, curated by the critic Franco Bulfarini, at the Exhibition Center of the Municipality of Scandiano (RE). From 23rd November to 22nd December he was invited to exhibit at the Cantina Canali in Albinea (RE), in the “Le Vigne di Matilde” event. From 30th November to 14th December, on the occasion of the 2019 LYNX International Contemporary Art Prize, one of his photographs was exhibited at the Lokarieva Galerija in Ajdovscina (Slovenia). From 8th December to 6th January 2020, one of his photographs, winner of the competition promoted in homage to the artist Carlo Minelli (1917/1978), was exhibited at CircoloArt under the patronage of the Municipality of Pavullo nel Frignano (MO). From 4th January to 9th February he exhibited two photographs in Cesenatico (FO), one of which was awarded at the “1° Premio David di Donatello per le Arti Visive 2020”, promoted by ArtExpò Gallery. From 14th to 23rd February he was present with one of his works at the Contemporary Art exhibition entitled “With Love” at the splendid Palazzo del Bargello in Gubbio. From 20th February to 5th March, with the patronage of the Giuseppe De Nittis Foundation, he exhibited at an exhibition curated by Anna Soricaro, at the ZeroUno Art Gallery in Barletta. From 2nd to 31st March he exhibited at the Arte-Cgil space of the Municipality of Bibbiano (RE). From 1st to 30thSeptember he exhibited at the “Spring Show 2020” exhibition of the Milan Photo Festival at the Fondo Malerba space and from 19th September to 10th October at the “Trinit [àr-t] Spring Edition 2020” in Prato. From 11th September to 3rd October 2021, his photographs were exhibited in the prestigious location of the former Monastic Refectory of the Abbey in Polirone in San Benedetto Po (MN).
In 2022, from 7th to 18th September he exhibited in the beautiful Villa Cuoghi in Fiorano Modenese (MO). On 22nd and 23rd October, on the occasion of the Paris-Art Shopping Louvre event, one of his works was projected at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. From 19th to 30th November he exhibited at the J. Cavedoni Modern Art Gallery in Sassuolo (MO).
In 2023, from 4th to 22nd February he exhibits, with a mini solo exhibition, at the international art exhibition “Artexpo Winter Rome 2023”, an event organized by Artist in the World Event and Art Gallery Rome.
THEY HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT HIM
Prof. Massimo Mussini full professor of art history and Modern Art at the University of Parma and photography critic.
Project 199 / A Extract from the Casalgrande 1996 Catalogue.
In defining this research, the “school” played an important role, not to be understood as one of those useless and expensive workshops that are so fashionable, but as a relationship with a group of important Italian photographers and above all, as the will to understand their work rather than to “learn” it; that is to understand the meaning of the examples proposed, rather than trying to imitate them on a formal level: and the meaning of that teaching, of those different presences in the Casalgrande Territory, was that photography is thought expressed in images and not simply a set of figures to be composed in an orderly way. Of that teaching, Silvano Fontanesi demonstrates that he has perfectly understood that before taking a photograph you need to know clearly what you want to photograph and for what reason to do it.
2019 Dr. Franco Bulfarini curator and art critic.
Silvano Fontanesi is a highly experienced and talented artistic photographer. His intent is not to produce unpredictable photographic shots or trendy iconographies, but to pursue with passion, sensations coming from his own soul, but also from the surrounding reality or from what he defines “his roots”. He works with an artistic procedure for cycles of photos, both in color and in certain cases, where deemed appropriate, with developments in black and white, in particular if it is necessary to accentuate the drama of subjects or scenes. Each shot is the result of careful study to capture an ideal of beauty. The artist captures the slightest vibrations of light, with skillful rendering of chiaroscuro, shadows and half-shadows, generating exemplary scenes, perfectly declined, as to make a confront with the talented mannerism of the pictorial past, where it was the brush that dominated the scene at level of images. In particular, in the works of the cycle “Painting with light”, the reference to the painters of the ‘600 is evident, in particular to Caravaggio, with his fruit basket, but even more there are references to still lives of intense emphasis, depth and perfection of Rubens, and of the talented Flemish painters in general. He has an extraordinary skill that is well appreciated in this highly successful cycle. In the moment of creation of the scene in the studio, the subject is posed with surprising attention and a rare skill in composing the color combinations. The photographs for these works are made in dark conditions, apart from a small, well-directed light. With this apparent simplicity, the artist captures delicate balances between the numerous elements that make up the image, conceiving a unitary vision of perfect formal balance, where everything interacts with everything, where everything is in its place, where nothing is left to chance, there is the wise and inspired care of every little detail, which must harmonize with the whole. Silvano confronts with lights, shadows and half- shadows, chiaroscuro, perspective, reflections, depth of the scene, and finally the light, by defining the shapes and their harmonious relationship, it gently caresses them as to put brush films on the surface of a painting.
2020 Dr. Anna Soricaro critic and curator of Contemporary Art events for Giuseppe De Nittis Foundation. Silvano Fontanesi is a photographer who reinvents still life allowing each photograph to be a small painting. He photographs as if he was using a brush, he moves with the camera on a white support, he sets up the scene, he prepares everything with frames and backgrounds of light: it is a complex preparation of days that leads to the final shot. He moves like a screenwriter of light, as was Caravaggio who, with his interpretation of the chiaroscuro technique, anticipated the use of light used today for special effects in photographic and film productions. The two elements of Caravaggio’s painting are light and dark, exactly as in Fontanesi’s photography. The contrast between light and darkness does not create a discrepancy, rather the two elements complement each other, although opposed, highlighting the defects of the objects represented in a careful and patiently studied scenography. An atmosphere of mystery frames the final rendering, entrusting to the final shot the duties to excite and impress the audience.
2020 Dr. Mariarosa Belgiovine critic and event curator for ArtExpò Gallery Remarkable concentration in his ability to transform a photograph into a work of art, with careful study focused on the final effects of the visual result. The artist concentrates his intuition in the perception of changing real abstractions, offering metaphors with essentiality of colors and details, in a set of excellent and sincere creative value.