Alberto Luca Recchi: SEXY SHARK curated by Gloria Porcella

By Alberto Luca Recchi

When I was a kid there was no such thing as the Discovery Channel; as a matter of fact there were no pictures of underwater animals at all, or at least not of ones that were alive. In the few pictures that were available the fish was usually either a trophy hanging from a proud fisherman's rod, or a commodity like many others laying dead at a fish market. Photography back then was still unable to capture the vast majority of earth's life - the one that takes place below the ocean's surface.

I belong to a privileged generation, the one before me lacked the technology needed for underwater photography, but the one that succeeds me will lack the reefs and ocean life. I decided to make the most of my perfect timing, and leave my daughters and their children something to remember those glory days by. This is how I left the sharks at Wall Street and decided to pursue those that inhabited the oceans.

The exhibition is made up of three parts:

GLORY DAYS
The body : The body is the protagonist of the show. Creatures reach out and meet the eyes of the spectators . The sea is a stage and the animals its protagonists. There is no solitude underwater ; you are never alone . Life down there is embracing and loud .

NEW MILLENIUM
THE MIND: The transition from documentation to emotion has been the big challenge of the past few years.The ocean is art, and art is what we imagine art to be. We used to appreciate a painting that looked like a photograph, now we appreciate a photograph that looks like a painting. As New York’s glass skyscrapers the water is in constant motion, reflecting light to create abstraction.
Water's surface is constantly changing, its colors and reflexes are unpredictable. Water gives even the smallest of insects the possibility of becoming an abstract painting. And the mind wonders...

TODAY
THE SOUL
what is more intriguing a shark or a woman ? Death or sex? The fear of being eaten and ending up in a creatures stomach, or the instinct of crawling inside of it?

The truth is that with the passing of time I have stopped taking myself as seriously. When you are young you spend your time trying to "play adult" in an attempt to gain acceptance and credibility. When you finally become that adult you strive to be small again, you no longer need to prove anything. I became tired of showing sharks as the monsters people like to think of them as , and I allowed myself to see him as I want to. You may now play again.