The 21st floor of the Standard East Village has 360-degree views of the streets, sidewalks, and rooftops of New York. With an espresso in hand, Andrea Albertini, president of Damiani Editore, speaks of his plans for the day. Ten meetings. Then a five p.m. flight back to Italy. It’s been like this for a week, but Albertini would not have it any other way. Art. Photography. Stories. Glamour. Intrigue. Passion. It’s the perfume of paper, ink, and iconography. It’s Publishing Italian Style.
“A picture is a picture. It gives you a sensation, a feeling into the same way. The book is material in your hand, the feeling created by the material itself. It is something special, with the correct size, ink, paper for that project. The artist is free to create what they want. We are here for them, to suggest, not to impose.”
Damiani has been in printing for more than a century. It was established, then destroyed during the war and rebuilt in 1947. This is where the story begins for Albertini, as his father ran the plant. It was not until 2004 that Albertini decided to launch a publishing programme that is impressive in its energy, exuberance, and risk. With an intuitive understanding of the medium that comes from a lifetime in print, Albertini is able to tap into the charismatic personalities working on the page today, including imprints with Aaron Rose for Alleged Press and André Balazs for Standard Press. With a list that includes Terry Richardson, Mario Testino, Andres Serrano, Ralph Gibson, Mary Ellen Mark, Charles Harbutt, JR, Maripol, Ari Marcopoulos, and Ed Templeton, among others, Damiani also presents a vibrant mix of visual literature for the library shelves.
“People want substance now,” he observes. Paper is reinventing itself as a luxury, and the art book’s status as an object d’art is evident in the care and treatment of each and every title. For example, a little tome titled Brooklyn Buzz by Alessando Cosmelli and Gaia Light. The paper was uncoated, the ink was rich, the photographs melted on the paper but not on your hands. There is a feeling of candy, of richness and delicacy, a feeling of closeness, intense and immediate in the way the medium complements the subject so perfectly.
It is Albertini’s expertise, his vision as both an artisan and a businessman that allows him to take risks, to expand his house to encompass both established and emerging artists, or to work to break the rules as he may and publish books such as New Religion, Damien Hirst’s 112-page take on the pharmaceutical industry. The book’s description online begins innocently, “We don’t know what the fuck we’re doing. Looks nice, though. That’s the great thing about art at the end of the day, if it looks nice over the sofa, you can get away with it…” Now wonder then, Albertini and Terry Richardson have begun working together.
Richardson is a master of the book form, understanding what we love about the photograph most of all is its voyeurism. The way we’re suddenly, and completely, in another space, how complete each image becomes when it is the sole focus of our attention. Terrywood was released in Fall 2012, highlighting the exhibition of the same name held at the oHWoW gallery in Los Angeles earlier that year. Next up is Terry’s Diary, a compendium of Richardson’s digital diary, taking the world one day at a time. And just like Richardson, that’s the way Albertini works, each day packed with a fabulous cast of characters. Not surprisingly, Albertini will be seeing Richardson later today, before he gets on his plane back home. The work of a true believer is never done.
Miss Rosen
