Wednesday's Artist of the World (No. 6).....

Today, being Ash Wednesday, I thought it would be appropriate if we traveled to Italy where so many are preparing for Lent. For me, Italy personally holds a special place in my heart. In 1987, my parents had sought refugee for our family in a refugee camp in Rome from what was then Communist Poland. (In a future blog post, I will talk more about my families "journey" to America.)

Here we go......

Country-Italy:
Italy is famous to many for its high fashion, luxury cars, those cute little vespas and of course for it's wonderful cuisine. However, Italy is a country steeped with such a rich, interesting history, beautiful artwork and truly amazing architecture. Italy is a country composed of so many splendid cities; Rome filled with remnants of its Imperial past, Florence for it's Renaissance monuments and architecture, Venice, one of the most stunning cities situated on a lagoon, and the list goes on and on..... from Naples to Sicily to the ruins of Pompeii. Italy has so much to offer to all of it's travelers.



Artist-Olivo Barbieri:
Olivo Barbieri was born in Italy in 1954, he is an Italian artist and photographer of urban environments. It is amazing how in his aerial photographs of cities throughout the world he is able to make buildings look like tiny toys and people like ants. Olivo Barbieri is able to create these tiny worlds by photographing places from a helicopter using a tilt-shift lens photography. He is able to change what is truly there; it is as if though reality and imagination pretty much seem to get blurred. It looks as though you are viewing miniature toy plans that he has created, instead of actual buildings and people from all around the world.

Site specific, LAS VEGAS, 2007


Iguazu, Argentina/Brazil(IG10) 2007

Here is a link to where more information about this artist and his work can be found: Olivo Barbieri