HUMBLE FORCE

Marsèll presents Humble Force, a photographic show by Mattia Balsamini curated by Matete Martini. Marsèll continues its iconographic research by opening its spaces with a new appointment dedicated to photography.

A series of images that tell the story of the production chain of the brand, which for twenty years has been producing objects completely designed and made in the Fiesso D’Artico plant in the province of Venice.

Humble force. The apparently oxymoronic link between understated hard work that is never flaunted and the powerful vision, hands and machines that bring it to its material completion. It is this synergy that embodies the Marsèll identity and which photographer Mattia Balsamini pinpointed as the brand’s most distinguishing feature.

The central focus of Humble Force is the image formed by the unquantifiable stratification of signs on a single canvas. The photography series on display explores Marsèll production from the perspective of the material, which is studied, cut, coloured and marked. It leaves the artisanal gesture to the imagination, never explicitly depicting it with the presence of hands. The process is not a secret or concealed phase in this work, on the contrary, it is the abstract, coarse, physical and sensorial expression of the intention behind an entirely non-industrial method.

These analog photographs bear witness to that method and are exhibited in the basement space in a powerful representation of the Marsèll identity, which focuses attention on a production process that is authentic and impressive from design to manufacture.

The exhibition is on view, by appointment only, from 24 June to 30 July 2021 at Marsèll Paradise in via Privata Rezia 2. Book at paradisemilano@marsell.it or +39 02 78 622 681.

Mattia Balsamini

Balsamini moves to Los Angeles in 2008, where he begins his studies at Brooks Institute of California with a concentration in advertising photography. In 2010 he starts working at David LaChapelle’s studio as a studio assistant and archivist. In 2011, after obtaining a BA with honorable mention, he returns to Italy. Since then, he has been teaching photography at IUAV University of Venice as well as photographing extensively technology and its sociological implications – focusing his attention on work as a factor of identity of man. Over the years he has carried out personal and editorial projects for institutions such as MIT, NASA and the Institute of Forensic Medicine University of Zurich. His images reveal an interest in people and their stories, the functional aspects of technology and the graphic elements of the ordinary. He has been exhibited at the Milan Triennale, MAXXI, Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, and the Italian Cultural Institute in San Francisco. He is currently represented by the photo agency Contrasto.

Matete Martini

Matete Martini is an italian figurative artist who promotes and develops projects in various artistic fields such as theater, fashion and education. Her work is carried out in Italy and abroad, through collaborations and processes, that often starts from photography to then move up to canvas and other more material fabrics.