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Paolo Ventura’s *Nouvelles* are dreamlike tales told through images—stories of love, war, and family—in which things appear or disappear as if by magic, set in an imaginary past of Italy during World War II. Like silent films, the drama unfolds without words or captions. For these works, Ventura built life-size sets, in which he staged himself with members of his family (his son, his wife, and his twin brother playing the roles), in stories that are both charming and unsettling. Seemingly simple, Ventura’s vignettes hold profound implications: brothers who meet by chance on the battlefield, jugglers emerging from the sky, a man who squeezes himself into his suitcase, a provincial magician who accidentally makes his son disappear for real, and many more. Ventura has thus built a world of realistic proportions and characters, set within fantastical tales and painted backgrounds—blurring the line between reality and imagination. This book brings together for the first time the complete collection of Ventura’s Short Stories, including three previously unpublished works, and offers a glimpse into the artist’s extraordinary imagination.
Aperture, 2016
160 pages
21 × 29 cm
ISBN
Paolo Ventura’s *Nouvelles* are dreamlike tales told through images—stories of love, war, and family—in which things appear or disappear as if by magic, set in an imaginary past of Italy during World War II. Like silent films, the drama unfolds without words or captions. For these works, Ventura built life-size sets, in which he staged himself with members of his family (his son, his wife, and his twin brother playing the roles), in stories that are both charming and unsettling. Seemingly simple, Ventura’s vignettes hold profound implications: brothers who meet by chance on the battlefield, jugglers emerging from the sky, a man who squeezes himself into his suitcase, a provincial magician who accidentally makes his son disappear for real, and many more. Ventura has thus built a world of realistic proportions and characters, set within fantastical tales and painted backgrounds—blurring the line between reality and imagination. This book brings together for the first time the complete collection of Ventura’s Short Stories, including three previously unpublished works, and offers a glimpse into the artist’s extraordinary imagination.
Aperture, 2016
160 pages
21 × 29 cm
ISBN
