The name “Dolomites” is derived from the famous French mineralogist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu who was the first to describe the rock, dolomite, a type of carbonate rock which is responsible for the characteristic shapes and colour of these mountains. In 2009, the Dolomites were declared a natural heritage site by UNESCO. Over 250 million years old, the Dolomites of north-eastern Italy are one of the world’s most sublime mountain ranges.
For Italian photographer Olivo Barbieri, skilled at the creative exploitation of photographic kinks of perception, the ragged and pockmarked surfaces of the Dolomites present an ideal subject.
He portrays them as no longer instances of the sublime in nature, but rather as marvelous entities colonized by commerce. “Seascapes, great waterfalls, mountains and historic towns are fragile theme parks,” Barbieri declares; “Entertainment has virtually replaced the sublime. Views of megalopolises can, by size and consideration, compete with nature in the human imagination, in terms of importance.” Dolomites Project invites the viewer to marvel at nature, all the while qualifying its wonders with the nagging edge of artifice.
Barbieri interprets the mountains as almost sentient, mobile forms, bestowing upon them something of the serie toytown touch of his previous project and monograph, The Waterfall Project (2008). As that work showed, Barbieri feels that it is almost impossible to photographically compel the majesties of nature to astound us as they once did.
Olivo Barbieri is considered one of the important contemporary Italian artists, internationally acclaimed, his works have been shown at the most important museums and art galleries worldwide. He started to exhibit in 1978. Since 1989, he’s been travelling regularly to the Far East, especially to China. In 2004 he inaugurated site specific, a series of large format pictures exhibited in various towns, such as Rome, New York, Las Vegas, Shanghai.
Emiliana Tedesco
