July 24 – August 11, 2024 The Russian Museum of Photography in Nizhny Novgorod is hosting the exhibition “The Queen of Spades” by Enzo Rosamilia. Address: 9A, Piskunova street, 9A, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
The Nizhny Novgorod TV channel NNTV prepared a special report on this event:
You can also find the report on the TV channel’s website: https://nntv.tv/?id=318071.
Marianna Gnezdilova, art critic, head of the cultural committee of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, describes Enzo’s works and the exhibition itself in the preamble of the exhibition:
“The Queen of Spades” is the sixth exhibition of the international project in honor of the 225th anniversary of A.S. Pushkin. The Culture Committee of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Culture of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the Russian Museum of Photography, the Russian House in Rome, SNEG gallery, the International Association for the Support of Art OKSA Projects (Macedonia), the International Pushkin Foundation in Brussels took part in the preparation of the exhibition at the Russian Museum of Photography , College of Experts on Cultural Property.
Alexander Pushkin is limitless, international, his works are embodied in various forms of art: visual, literary, musical, and on the theater stage. His name is a unifying principle for people in different parts of the globe. Pushkin has become a symbol of Russian culture for all peoples of the world.
For many, Pushkin is associated with the concept of infinity in spatial and temporal terms. It seems that almost from birth we become acquainted with the characters of the poet’s fairy tales and grow up with the heroes of his poems. Throughout our lives, we discover new meanings for ourselves through acquaintance with works created based on Pushkin’s legacy.
An international participant in the “Art Unites the World” project, the Italian artist Enzo Rosamilia from the city of Salerno presented a series of works “The Queen of Spades”, created in 2024 using the author’s technique – printing photographs on Daguerre’s museum canvas. Enzo dedicated many of his works to famous Russian writers, including Mikhail Bulgakov, Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy. These thematic collections are united by the use of the same techniques in the presentation of images. Enzo managed to create his own individual style in photography. His work is immediately recognizable, so Rosamilia is an accomplished, mature author.
In the works dedicated to the story “The Queen of Spades”, there is no portrait of the heroes. The images dissolve in the historical space of the city and the interior. This technique allows us to convey the idea that passion, addiction to gambling, and the desire for easy money kill personality and erase individuality. The artist allows the viewer to complete the portrait of the characters in his imagination, and each of us becomes a co-author. The shell, the form, is clothing that exists independently in Enzo’s works, regardless of the real characters in the literary work. The space produces a mystical impression, just like the secular culture of the 19th century, with its passion for card games, spiritualistic seances, belief in the other world and the influence on the fate of Mephistopheles, not the individual. Pushkin, following I.V. Goethe and J.G. Byron, was fascinated by the theme of the influence of the spirit of evil on man, which Enzo Rosamilia subtly managed to convey in his works.
For a Russian art connoisseur, the Italian artist’s concept will seem unexpected. It differs from the classical images created by Russian artists and based on the traditions of realism. The “Boundless Pushkin” project expands our understanding of the perception of the poet and his works by artists from around the world, allowing us to become closer through cultural exchange, mutual penetration into the world of artistic fantasies and creative searches.
