Luca Gilli

Luca Gilli lives and works in Cavriago (Reggio Emilia, Italy). After getting his degree in Natural Sciences, he conducted short-term research projects for the University of Parma in the fields of zoology and ecology, before dedicating himself entirely to photography and graphic design. His first public shows date to 2004-2005, when he exhibited personal photographic projects at various institutions in Italy, France and Egypt.

Between 2006 and 2010 he focused all his energy on exploring and investigating the technical and poetic potential of his craft, and developed several new series, such as Panthalassa (2008-2009) and Islanda (2009), though he showed his work less frequently.

In 2011 he participated in the institutional circuit at Fotografia Europea in Reggio Emilia with the project Menu del giorno (2010–2011), and the Milan Image Art Fair with Panthalassa, proposed by Galerie Vrais Rêves in Lyon (where he presented the same project the previous year). He exhibited at Galerie Nadar in Tourcoing’s Médiathèque André Malraux and held two separate personal shows in Arles during Rencontres de la Photographie.

Between 2011 and 2012 the project Blank took definitive shape: in November 2011 Planorbis published the volume of the same title, with an introductory essay by Quentin Bajac, then-director of the Photography Department at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The project’s images were presented in personal shows at Galerie Confluence in Nantes, Maison Claude Samuel in Paris, Maison de
la Photographie in Lille, as well as at the Milan Image Art Fair and the Paris Art Fair at the Grand Palais.

In 2013 he held solo shows in various places: the Lille Art Fair, Galleria 10Due! International Research Contemporary Art in Milan, the Palazzo Civico in Montechiarugolo (Parma), and Galleria Weber & Weber Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin. The same year (May-October), he participated in the exhibition Nuage at the Musée Reattu – Musée des beaux-arts in Arles, curated by director Michèle Moutashar.

In 2014 other projects of his were shown in various Italian and French galleries. He participated in the Milan Image Art Fair, winning the prestigious BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas Award. His personal shows were held in Arles during Rencontres de la Photographie, at the Museum of Photography in Seoul, at the Université Claude Bernard Lyon I’s Galerie Domus, at the École Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l’Information et des Bibliothèques in Lyon, at ArtVerona (with Galleria VV8 artecontemporanea), where one of his works was purchased by Fondazione Domus per l’arte moderna e contemporanea, at Galleria VV8 artecontemporanea in Reggio Emilia, and at the Castello in Montecchio Emilia.

In 2015 he took part in Arte Fiera in Bologna with a personal show at Turin’s Galleria Weber & Weber and a collective exhibition at Paola Sosio Contemporary Art; he was also present at Bologna’s SetUp, with a personal show in the Special Projects category and a group show at Galleria VV8 artecontemporanea. He exhibited once again on the institutional circuit at Fotografia Europea in Reggio Emilia – at the Chiostri di San Pietro – with a personal show dedicated to the project Blank. In the same year he worked on his new project Incipit in collaboration with Paola Sosio Contemporary Art; in Milan he presented a selection of works from Blank during the Salone del Mobile and from Menu del giorno during EXPO 2015. Durante Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles, he held a dual personal show at the city’s Galerie Omnius. In autumn, his work was present at Art Verona with Reggio Emilia’s Galleria VV8 artecontemporanea.

In 2016 with Paola Sosio Contemporary Art he presented a preview of his series Raw State at both the Milan Image Art Fair and The Others Art Fair in Turin, for which he also created, at the invitation of the organisers, the site-specific installation Attesa curated by Bruno Barsanti and Greta Scarpa. In the same year he carried out a photographic project commissioned by the company Ice Yachts. A selection of the project’s works was exhibited in a personal show at the Milan Image Art Fair. At year’s end he inaugurated a personal show at Galerie Confluence in Nantes and exhibited a preview of his new project Un musée après at L’Atelier in the same French city. In December Skiros published Incipit, from a series of photographs of the same name, with essays by Walter Guadagnini, Gianfranco Ravasi and Luca Doninelli.

In 2017, with Paola Sosio Contemporary Art he was present once again at the Milan Image Art Fair and The Others in Turin, where he displayed works from Un musée après; he was then invited to participate with a personal show at the opening of Nicoletta Rusconi’s new Art Space “Cascina Maria” in Agrate Conturbia. He also showed in Arles with Galerie Le Corridoir art contemporain
for the project Emergences, created with his photographs and the paintings of Fabien Boitard, and at Palazzo Grillo in Genoa in the exhibition Oltre il paesaggio curated by Giovanni Battista Martini.

With the support of Paola Sosio Contemporary Art, in 2018 (Jan-Apr) he held the personal exhibition Di/Stanze, curated by Matteo Bergamini, at the Museo Diocesano Chiostri di S. Eustorgio in Milan. With the same gallery he presented the solo show Interno in surreale, curated by M. Bergamini, both at Art Verona and at The Others Art Fair in Turin. In December he inaugurated the personal exhibition White Noise at Galleria Die Mauer arte contemporanea in Prato. That same year, he exhibited at Kyro Art Gallery in Pietrasanta (Lucca); participated in the exhibition Percorsi paralleli – Collezione Mario Trevisan at Brescia’s Museo Santa Giulia, curated by Mario Trevisan with Renato Corsini and Luigi Di Corato; and won the VanillaEdizioni Prize at the 4th edition of Arteam Cup Contemporary Art Prize.

In 2019, from January to June an expanded version of Interno in surreale was on display at Milan’s Bocconi University in collaboration with MIA Art Fair and Paola Sosio Contemporary Art, gallery with which the artist also participated in the special project Interni & Torre Velasca during Milano Design Week and in the newborn The Phair Art Fair in Turin. In the summer, in collaboration with the same gallery, he exhibited Sinestesie, curated by Angela Madesani, at the Fondazione Calderara in Vacciago di Ameno (Novara) and Plenum, curated by Marina Guida, at Capri’s historic Villa Lysis, followed in the autumn by Plenum Napoli edition at the Maschio Angioino. In July, for the first time in his career he shot a photographic service for Hermes’s 2019-20 F/W collection in Lampoon Magazine’s September 2019 issue. In July he completed the site-specific project La Luce dell’Altissimo at Henraux’s Cervaiole quarry in collaboration with Kyro Art Gallery, with the curatorship of Matteo Galbiati, a project he exhibited in the aforementioned gallery in Pietrasanta and other locations. In the autumn, with the series Stadium he participated in the project Gradazione di luce. Geografie di sguardi tra storia e contemporaneità, curated by Gigliola Foschi and Nadia Stefanel, promoted by DZ Engineering & Fondazione Dino Zoli, previewed in Singapore and then exhibited in full at Forlì’s Fondazione Dino Zoli.

In 2020 (June-July) at Brescia’s Spazio Contemporanea he held the personal show Come un destino nella luce chiara, curated by Renato Corsini and Mario Trevisan and organised by Ma.Co.f – Centro della Fotografia Italiana with the sponsorship of the City of Brescia and the collaboration of Paola Sosio Contemporary Art. During the lockdown he developed the series Perimetro divano, which was presented online by several art publications. In autumn of the same year he participated in the exhibition Souffle: photo, art sonore, dessin organized by the Centre d’art contemporain Les Pénitents Noir in Aubagne (France) in collaboration with Arles’s Musée Réattu.

In 2021 he participated in the group shows Lègami-Legàmi, at Kyro Art Gallery in Pietrasanta, and Visioni, at Galleria Weber & Weber in Turin; he was also invited to participate, in the framework of the Brescia Photo Festival Patrimoni (May-July), in the exhibition È Brescia curated by Albano Morandi, with a personal project on the Museo Santa Giulia exhibited at Ma.Co.f., and in the exhibition Bellissima, 20 fotografi travolti da un insolito splendore, a tribute to the newly restored Winged Victory, curated by Mario Trevisan. In spring-summer he took part in the second edition of The Phair Art Fair in Turin with Paola Sosio Contemporary Art and in the exhibition In Extremis organised by Galerie Confluence in collaboration with the City of Nantes in the latter’s Parc Grand Blottereau. In Arles, his work was displayed during Rencontres de la Photographie (July-September) at Galerie Le Corridoir art contemporain as part of the project Coleur, colore, color, created with his photographs and the paintings of Philippe Judlin. In September, during Milano Design Week, he presented his personal project Passaggi di stato, Superstudio MAXI – il cantiere delle idee, curated by Paola Sosio, at the new Superstudio MAXI. In early October he was present at Milan Image Art Fair in the exhibition of the winners of the New Post Photography Award, curated by Gigliola Foschi, and, with a preview of his new project Incognita, at Paola Sosio Contemporary Art. In October-November he participated with a selection of large-format works in the exhibition Limen curated by Angela Madesani at Villa Borletti in Origgio (Varese). In November he participated in the exhibition New Post Photography, curated by Gigliola Foschi, at the UMELKA Gallery of the Slovak Union of Visual Arts as part of the Bratislava Photography Festival, realized in collaboration with Milan Image Art Fair. Also in November, he inaugurated a new edition of the personal show Come un destino nella luce chiara in Piacenza at Collettivo TIFF’s exhibition space.

In 2022 he was one of the three winners of the prestigious BDC – Bonanni Del Rio Catalog “La nuova scelta italiana” Prize at the Milan Image Art Fair, where he also displayed his work in the exhibition of the finalists of the first edition of the Irinox Save the Food Award and at the stand of Paola Sosio Contemporary Art, gallery with which he participated in The Phair in Turin and ArtVerona. He then exhibited in the group show Art Save The Food curated by Claudio Composti at Parma’s Monastery of San Paolo. In June he participated in the group show Arts en Poésie, curated by Danièle Faugeras, in the Chapel of the Penitents in Aniane (France). In June he also inaugurated his personal show Realismo Magico, curated by Fabio Gori, at the Fattoria di Celle in Pistoia, presenting the photographic project realised during his residency at the same Gori Collection of environmental art. Here the artist was called to work with poet Giuseppe Conte, winner of the biennial Celle “Arte e Natura” poetry award.
In November, in Parma, he inaugurated his personal show Umwelt, curated by Domenico de Chirico, in Bonanni Del Rio’s space at Borgo delle Colonne 28.

In 2023 he participated at Artefiera in Bologna and The Phair and The Others in Turin with Paola Sosio Contemporary Art. In collaboration with the latter, in June he inaugurated the personal show A-Topos at Milan’s Alessia Paladini Gallery. In July he created the site-specific personal show Arte e natura: il senso della meraviglia curated by Fabio Gori in “Paesaggi Contemporanei”, the exhibition portion of the Festival of Radicondoli. In the July-September period, in collaboration with Paola Sosio Contemporary Art, he participated with large format works in the group show Open Space – Finché si avranno passioni curated by Irene Finiguerra, Fabrizio Lava and Gigi Piana at Biella’s Palazzo Ferrero. In September (and until January 2024) he created the personal show Incognita, curated by Emilie Houssa and Yolande Mary, exhibited at Nantes’s Centre Claude Cahun pour la photographie contemporaine.

His photographs are a part of Italian and European private collections and museums of photography and contemporary art, including: the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, the Musée de la Photographie in Charleroi, Berlin’s Kunstbibliothek, the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain in Strasbourg, the Musée Réattu in Arles, Paris’s École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, the Fondazione Domus per l’arte moderna e contemporanea in Verona, the Museo Diocesano Chiostri di S. Eustorgio in Milan, the Galleria Civica in Modena, the Collezione di Fotografia Europea (RE), the Collezione BNL BNP Paribas, the Fondazione Antonio e Carmela Calderara, and the Gori Collection – Fattoria di Celle.

Leading photography and contemporary art critics and eminent cultural figures in Italy and France have written about his work