Within the scope of the first Biennale International of Photography City of Brescia
Giulio Obici. Racconti metropolitani
(Giulio Obici. Metropolitan Tales)
Edited by Basilio Tabeni
Exhibition hall of the Tourist Office in Iseo
From 1 to 28 June 2002
Catalogue with texts by Grazia Neri and Franco Loi
Grafo edizioni, San Zeno Naviglio, 2002
In Walter Benjamin’s book, Das Passagen-Werk (Paris Capital of the XIX century), this philosopher talks about photography but is particularly interested in Paris because of the figure of the “flâneur”, i.e. someone who roams the city for the pleasure of walking around… Giulio Obici is a real and great “flâneur” of our times, who patrols the city, curious to unearth the visible intrigues as seen in some photographic compositions and which is a harvest of everything: pamphlets, misery and poverty, ridiculous shop windows that show urban relics, and, as he calls them, their trading cards.
Grazia Neri
Giulio had an admirable eye. Not only technically, but also his choice of images and frames, an eye for culture. Certainly, a lot of modern art offers the same excerpts of the world and the way in which we live. But what is so surprising in these photographs is the intelligence with which this has been approached, the images, the depth and correlation of his thoughts… Giulio Obici gives us a view of modern times without judging it and with the detachment that is always linked to art.
Franco Loi