His father and his grandfather distempered and worked in oils. He, on the contrary, preferred to take pictures. He has been appreciated in photographic circles for small village’s coverage, images “expressly” created and landscapes. But he had an idea in his pocket, an intuitive knowledge which made him walk always with his nose in the air and took notes on how and mostly when (with which weather and light) come back to shot at.

Preparation was long, but in the end Aldo Basili succeeded in his purpose; he has created painting-photographs which capture forms as with a brush, but without digital elaboration. The trick obviously lies in the images which are assembled with a skillful use of “blurred” partial screening in multiple exposures.

For this collection Aldo Basili choose Turin (but he is already thinking of other subjects). Squares, monuments, peculiar spots, fountains, parks have been captured by his camera. So the bottom of a wrecked boat, an aquarium, tree branches, a wall or other partly recognizable elements, are superimposed and create a magical sequence of reality and unreality, presence and appearance. What interest him is not the simple "catalogue making" of the city, but the ability of his sight to transform in visions and fantasies, what our eye now only perceives as acquired images. Therefore objective and manipulator at the same time. In effect he follows a classical illustrating scheme, but then he freely turns upside down even the most common reality, getting to transform a well-known and famous monument in a nearly abstract work.

Double is the credit of this exhibition: on one side it obliges the visitor to stop and observe the image he has in front of him (which in this hectic age, in which we never have time and we are always running, is not bad at all!); on the other side it helps to discover the magic and fascinating atmospheres of this city, which is in no way inferior to anyone else ...on the contrary!

Marilina Di Cataldo

AND NOT ONLY ….