DIE GALERIE is pleased to present the first joint exhibition of the Italian brothers, Andrea & Paolo Ventura – Dreams.
The twins were born in 1968 in Milan and shared a childhood marked by the stories about the Second World War told by their grandmother, and the military relics that could be found buried beneath the surface of the idyllic Italian countryside. Since then, the brothers have shared a fascination with the past of their homeland, a fascination which even today germinates within their heads into individual fantasy worlds that flow into their artwork. One special shared trait is the great interest in costumes, as costumes alone are able, according to Paolo Ventura, "to define a person in appurtenance, rank, time, geography or ethnicity."
Paolo Ventura, who studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan from 1989-91, quickly realized that photography was his medium of preference. His brother Andrea, in turn, began making his name as an illustrator and classical painter. In 1991, the brothers set up ateliers in New York and Brooklyn; their work is now found in major international collections and they have had solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe, Asia and the USA.

Andrea Ventura , who lives in Berlin and Brooklyn, is currently well-known in the United States above all as a brilliant illustrator. His portraits of artists of all media for the New York Times, New Yorker and Rolling Stone enjoy popular acclaim and, in 2010, he was awarded a Gold Medal at the Lead Awards. But Andrea Ventura has never been merely an illustrator: to a greater degree, his illustration activities developed parallel to his activities as a respected painter whose work is influenced by the early Expressionists. His paintings are characterized by strongly cast shadows, and the keen sense of composition often lends the pictorial images an almost photographic appearance. Andrea Ventura's thematic focus is on the classical subjects of art history – interiors, portraits, nudes, architectural views, monuments – and, at the same time, reveals the painter's fascination for the everyday and mundane. His figures, which often appear to belong to a bygone era, are often placed in silent, deserted environments which, permeated by a soft and cool light, convey a feeling of loneliness and the longing for something lost.

Paolo Ventura lives and works in New York, and his work can be found in (among others) the collections of the Boston Museums of Fine Art, the Library of Congress in Washington, and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. In 2010, his work was exhibited in the Italian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. The oeuvre of the artist is one of ambiguity and mystery: his pictures are an amalgamation of memories, fantasies and visions that seem to capture a lingering moment of a longer narrative. For his photographs, Paolo Ventura creates scenic dioramas – diminutive three-dimensional models – that he subsequently populates with figures and props and then photographs. Throughout the photographic process, he experiments incessantly with light, perspective and details until the desired atmosphere – one which intermingles reality and fabrication – is achieved: "I use photography because people believe that what they see in photos is real, even when they know that it's a model."

Opening:
April 2, 2014, 6.30 pm

DIE GALERIE Frankfurt am Main
Grüneburgweg 123
60323 Frankfurt am Main

The artists will be present.