Guido Mocafico

Guido Mocafico is a specialist in still life photography. Drawing from highly symbolical elements of decay in Western culture such as flowers, snakes or spiders, Mocafico’s images blur the line between still life paintings and photographic immortalisations of pulsating jeopardy. In the tradition of the allegorical art of Vanitas, Mocafico confronts desire and death, eros and thanatos always accompanied by an undertone of superficiality and lure. 

Guns and Roses unites two distinct bodies of Guido Mocafico's work; Guns dating from 2006 - 2008 and Roses, 2009.

 

Guns concentrates on the beauty and technical feat of the man made object, reminiscent of Mocafico's Movement series; delighting in the sleek design and functionality of the weapons which are in themselves works of art set against black backgrounds. ''I do not like violence but cannot deny that these machines are real and a part of life, they are symbolic - particularly during this time of war.'', Mocafico. The viewer is encouraged to look beyond their raw, often destructive reality and consider the beauty of their design.

 

Roses adopts a striking nobility in which Mocafico presents order, yet an elegant simplicity with his painstakingly arranged bouquets photographed from above.  Originally inspired to create this body of work when he saw Renoir's Bouquet dans une Loge at Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris, Mocafico describes it as simple, beautiful and organic, with a twist, ''This work has a dark edge - the roses are red and bloody, they conjure passion, mystery and verge on the scary.''

 

Combined, the two series Guns and Roses, raise interesting parallels; technology versus the natural, war versus love, fear versus pleasure - but in both, Mocafico examines humanity's intervention with nature.