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. 

Guido Mocafico's Aranea series presents deadly spiders in minimalist fashion; beautiful, yet frightening still objects.

 

Spiders, whether large or small, have always stirred a fear in humans, and although Mocafico provides the spectator a comfortable viewing position to observe these striking creatures, instinctive reactions habitually prevail.

 

This series is part of Mocafico's Venenum trilogy, alongside Medusa (Jellyfish) and his famous Serpens (Snakes). In 2005 Steidl published the Venenum book in a limited edition of 1200 copies.

 

All the tarantulas photographed are part of the Theraphoside family; this is one of the most important, with an estimated 800 species distributed in 12 subfamilies. They can be found on every continent, with their numbers greatest in the tropical regions.