The award-winning photographer Alberto Venzago provides insights into decades of irrepressible creative work in the fast lane. He was a war reporter and toured with the Rolling Stones, accompanied Bruno Manser into the Malaysian jungle and made a film about voodoo in West Africa. He describes himself as self-taught and a late bloomer – and yet he has already won the ICP Infinity Award for photojournalism after just eight years of professional experience.
For five years, he accompanied the yakuza in their everyday lives. How does an outsider gain access to one of Japan’s most dangerous syndicates? His portraits of well-known personalities such as Andy Warhol, Louise Bourgeois, Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz are also particularly sensitive. He has accompanied Tina Turner photographically for the last 10 years. Alberto Venzago’s works reveal a well-honed and uncompromising craftsmanship. Perfection is more than a technological aspect here; it is the best translation of what happened in front of the camera into a photographic work. There is a sense that this photographer places a special value on the moment, the people and the places depicted. Each photo is a time capsule. You can sense the close physical proximity between the photographer and those portrayed. This conveys a certain sense of authenticity. Time and place are still clear coordinates that anchor his pictures in the world and, by extension, Venzago himself. We do not doubt the photographer’s expressed interest in Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Tina Turner.
Here you can walk through the exhibition Do You Dare? – which was on view from march 1st until may 16th 2024 at MOOS Fine Art Gallery.