For the first time in Austria: a retrospective of the superstar Sante D'Orazio, born 1956 in Brooklyn, New York; pioneer icon-maker and meanwhile an icon of the international fashion photography himself.
Sante, fashion photographer, American-Italian. More Italian than American. Unafraid of excessive, complacent prettiness. Catholic celebration of the flesh. Still, the ripeness of a very red cherry shall imply a melancholic acknowledgement of fragility. Sante´s acceptance of his subjects´ good looks is without apology, faithful as he is to the essence of photography as vanitas, a ghostly reminder that the sole beauty we know is fleeting beauty.
Sante, a friend, a photographer, no explanation really needed. Restless, unpretentious, photographs are entertainment too, to catch the moment. The picture will compose itself, speak for itself.
Francesco Clemente
From: Foreword „A Private View", 1998
The exhibition shows 160 color- and black-and-white photographs of the period between 1986 and today.