As if fascinated by what remains still in the background (Come suggestionati da quello che dietro loro rimane fermo), 1999. Chromogenic print, A.P. 1, edition of 5, sheet: 62 x 41 inches (157.5 x 104.1 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York,Purchased with funds contributed by the Photography Committee  2003.84. © Diego Perrone

Although Diego Perrone has stayed close to home to carry out some of his recent photographic projects, the results are anything but ordinary or expected. The landscape and residents of Asti, the artist's hometown in northern Italy, were the subject of his photographic series I Pensatori di buchi (The Thinkers of Holes, 2002). First, the artist and his father spent several months digging large holes on their property, initially softening the soil by burning it. Then Perrone photographed young men from town, either clothed or naked, sitting at the edges of the openings. Perrone's manipulation of the land recalls 1970s Earthworks, and the collision of human beings and nature connects his practice to Arte Povera; like those Italian artists, Perrone explores the interchange between art, life, and the natural world. For Come suggestionati da quello che dietro loro rimane fermo (As if Fascinated by what Remains Still in the Background, 1999), he photographed elderly residents of Asti holding large animal horns and antlers. The juxtaposition of aging flesh and hardened organic material is a compelling existential metaphor that also lends a mythical, almost talismanic quality to the images.

Meghan Dailey