SOLO EXHIBITION:
BIRTH OF A SHIP / RAĐANJE BRODA
Opening on New Year’s Day 2017 at 00:00
Photo Gallery Split
Marmontova 5, Split, Croatia
31 December 2016 – 25 January 2017
BOOK PRESENTATION:
10 January 2017 at 20:00
Photo Gallery Split
Marmontova 5, Split, Croatia
Ladies and gentlemen, friends, enemies and fellow travellers through time and space, we are gathered here this evening to celebrate the birth of a boat while the rest of the world celebrates the birth of a carpenter’s son from the Middle East about 2017 years ago and the start of a new year in Christendom.
Neno has provided a stunning pictorial support to a story I wrote a couple of years ago about the death of a boat, strange but true. The path of Neno to reach this point is truly inspirational.
A gifted economist, able to advise people on how to avoid taxes and create off-shore accounts, Neno had the idea of changing his life-style. He has done so.
He has taken pictures of people in caves.
He decided to go for something much bigger; his decision to travel to Switzerland and take pictures of large pieces of chocolate was an idea which could only have been inspired by a higher power.
Unfortunately, Toblerone was unable to provide a piece of chocolate big enough for his purposes so he told them to fuck off and took a few pictures of the Matterhorn instead. He couldn’t afford a hotel room, being on a small budget, so had to stay up all night, in the freezing cold, with his camera put on a long aperture in case he missed something, such as the mountain moving to Tibet.
This resulted in him winning an international prize from the National Geographic magazine, for those of you don’t know this publication, it’s a bit like Playboy but without the naughty bits. The picture has also been published on the website of the well-respected, xenophobic, ultra-right wing, pro-Brexit British tabloid, the Daily Mirror. I think I made a comment about it, possibly the only one to get posted online.
Inspiration doesn’t come easily to Neno, I know… he’s a lousy cook. Having read a story about Vikings, he decided to do a photo composition of antique Viking helmets in Split. He couldn’t find any. However he has a friend who wanted to build a boat.
This friend, Gugo, had only just started on an extremely expensive project that would take him a little more than twelve years. Being a relatively old man when he started, his project turned into a race between the boat being built and his death. Luckily for all concerned, death lost this race.
However, while demonically taking thousands and thousands of pictures during the process of observing the boat being built and, at the same time trying to ignore the chorus of voices stating that “it will never float, you have to turn it around, it’s upside down!”, Neno noticed that his Viking helmet project was not quite dead in the water, unlike the boat. His eagle eye and trained photographer’s vision observed that if a picture was taken from a certain angle, the boat would, indeed look like a huge Viking helmet! His sanity was saved, and a bare patch on my living room wall was covered. It now hosts a huge picture of a Viking helmet signed by Neno. Such are the vagaries of life. The picture is also included in the book illustrating my story and is the star of the poster promoting this event, though why a picture of a Viking helmet has anything to do with the birth of a ship is anyone’s guess. But, perhaps that’s only me being a little stupid.
This exhibition, stars pictures of the boat in all it’s pure naked beauty. The story isn’t bad either if you get the book. Like his Swiss chocolate project, resulting in award winning pictures of the Matterhorn, this exhibition showcases Neno’s ability to change the most ordinary object into a thing of beauty. I can’t wait until he starts photographing ladies well-rounded bottoms.
With these few words, I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year, may it be better than the last…. Enjoy the exhibition and leave some booze for me…… Neno, your turn…. Thank you.
____________
Guys, I was at the opening five minutes after midnight. Everybody that knows me know how much I love photography and know about my utmost respect for the photographers. I know many of them, and have cooperated with dozens. However, I’ve never experienced something so fascinating. Absolute poetry!! You freeze and go mute, you try to talk to the author, introduce yourself, and stutter some compliments that disappear in their banality among the pure beauty of his work. I’m looking forward to Monday so I can visit again in peace. I’ll take a break on Tuesday, but on Wednesday I’ll have to visit again. I genuinely recommend to everybody who’s going to be in town in the next twenty days to visit and enjoy 20 minutes in front of the essence of beauty.
Maybe I’m exaggerating, but I’m astonished.
Ljudi, bio ja na otvorenju u ponoć i pet. Svi koji me znaju, znaju i to da obožavam fotografiju i beskrajno cijenim fotografe. Mnoge i poznajem, s desecima sam surađivao. Ali nešto ovoliko fascinantno još nisam doživio. Apsolutno čista poezija!!! Ono – smrzneš se i zanijemiš, obratiš se autoru, predstaviš se i počneš zamuckivati komplimente koji istog trena krenu odzvanjati banalnošću među svim tim strofama čiste ljepote. Jedva čekam ponedjeljak, da to sve još jednom pogledam bez gužve. U utorak ću si uzeti pauzu, pa u srijedu nanovo. Svima koji su u Splitu sljedećih dvadesetak dana, najtoplijje preporučujem dvadesetak minuta osmjehivanja pred esencijom ljepote.
Vjerojatno pretjerujem, ali ponijelo me.
By Renato Baretić, January 1, 2017 at 3:19am
Morsko prase, January 2, 2017