Afar
Studies
Strata
Cryo
Fracture
Testament
Others
Biography
The contemporary photography of artist Luca Marziale offers a new and different perspective on the natural landscape, one in which representational photography gives way to abstraction.
A new definition of the landscape
Luca Marziale is a young photographer of Italian and Canadian origin. He was born in Lugano, Switzerland, in 1991, where he currently lives, but he grew up in the UK. Graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the New York School of Visual Arts, his artistic career started with painting, the influence of which can be seen in his photographic work, especially in terms of texture, colour and style of composition. The artist felt a strong attraction for the natural American landscape, which provided him a return to solitude, tranquility and direct contact with nature, in contrast to the ‘metropolitan jungle’ of New York.
In his work, Luca Marziale questions the concept of landscape and our idea of the classic landscape. The artist’s attention is often focused on small details which he captures with macro zoomed lens to compose the ‘micro-landscapes’, as he defines them. These photographs challenge the observer to question their perception and perspective. The landscape has become abstract, the points of reference have disappeared, and the subject of the photograph is not immediately obvious.
“Not all landscapes have to be vast and infinite; sometimes a closer look can be immense in the same way”
Discovering Earth’s microorganisms
His project in the Yellowstone Nature Park in the United States (“Studies” series) inaugurated Luca Marziale’s work on micro-landscapes. Here the artist has developed a decided interest for thermophilic bacteria, ancient microorganisms that live at extremely high temperatures and which, according to some scientific theories, could have played a very important role in the evolution of life on Earth.
The environments created by such bacteria hold an astonishing and captivating beauty, which is almost surreal; the artist has become fascinated with their shapes, their colours and their textures. Such locations are also often very hostile to humans because of their extreme climatic conditions. For some trips, the artist needed to be accompanied by a team of specialists in order to carry out his work. A true explorer, Luca Marziale plans his trips carefully after undertaking a research and study phase of this remarkable natural universe.
A technique falling between tradition and contemporaneity
Luca Marziale prefers traditional film photography, of which he particularly appreciates the organic side of the print as well as the creative process which, contrary to digital photography and its unlimited possibilities, requires an almost meditative reflection of the artist to precede the choice of each click. Also, the final result is appreciable only after the development phase of the photos, which allows the artist to distance himself from his work and rediscover it with a new eye.
Luca Marziale uses a Hasselblad camera with a light meter and a spacer for micro landscapes. The photos are developed on positives which are then scanned in high definition with a particular scanner, in order to obtain digital photographs. After a post-production phase during which the artist optimizes the contrasts and eliminates any dust particles, the photographs are finally printed with a chromogenic print (C-type prints), which gives high level image quality on large formats.
Thanks to his refined technique and personal vision of the landscape, Luca Marziale invites the observer to discover unknown and unusual landscapes, creating an inspiring and different photographic world.
Exhibition “Discovering Mother Nature”, Amgest, Lugano, CH
Exhibition “Discovering Mother Nature”, Amgest, Lugano, CH
CV
Education
- 2012 – BFA in Photography, The School of Visual Arts, New York City, NY
Solo exhibitions
- 2025 “Echoes of Earth: A Visual Dialogue on Sustainability”, Duo Show with Giacomo Braglia, MIA Photo Fair, Superstudio Piú, Milan (Italy)
- 2023 “Discovering Mother Nature”, Amgest, Lugano (CH)
- 2019 National Geographic, Permanent Collection
- 2016 De Merkenwinkle Gallery, Amsterdam (NL)
- 2015 Photofusion Gallery, London (UK)
- 2012 Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Historic Site, Hyde Park (USA)
Group exhibitions
- 2024: Oceanic Global, United Nations, New York City (USA)
- 2018: ArtStar Gallery, New York City (USA)
- 2017: ArtStar Gallery, New York City (USA)
- 2017: Low Contrast, Art Auction, Amsterdam (NL)
- 2017: This ls Not A Curated Exhibition, Ramo Gallery, Lugano (CH)
- 2016: “Take Home a Nude” (25th Edition), New York Academy of Arts & Sotheby’s, New York (USA)
- 2016: ArtStar Gallery, New York City (USA)
- 2016: CONTEXT, New York City (USA)
- 2015: Moniker Art Fair, London (UK)
- 2015: The Other Art Fair, London (UK)
- 2015: SCOPE Basel Art Basel, TBD Independent Project, Basel (CH)
- 2014: SCOPE Miami Art Basel, TBD Independent Project, Miami (USA)
- 2014: Take Home a Nude, NYAA & Sotheby’s, New York City (USA)
- 2012: Mentors Show, SVA Gallery, New York City (USA)
- 2011: Terrapanonica, Mokrin City Center (RS)
- 2008 – America, The American School in Switzerland, Lugano (CH)
Awards & Residencies
- 2018 – Photo Camp, Mokrin House, Mokrin, RS
- 2017 – London Creative Network, London, UK
- 2017 – Photo Camp, Mokrin House, Mokrin, RS
- 2017 – Mountainside at Northstar, Tahoe, US
- 2016 – Photo Camp, Mokrin House, Mokrin, RS
- 2016 – Photofusion, London, UK
- 2015 – Photo Camp, Mokrin House, Mokrin, RS
Publications
- 2024 – Oceanic Global, Ocean Conservation, New York City, US
- 2024 – Amgest, Lugano, Switzerland, CH
- 2023 – Corriere di Ticino, Switzerland, CH
- 2020 – Widewalls, Switzerland, CH
- 2020 – Danas, Serbia, RS
- 2019 – Widewalls, Switzerland, CH
- 2019 – New Forest National Park, Hampshire, UK
- 2019 – Faction Magazine, London, UK
- 2019 – The Telegraph, London, UK
- 2018 – House and Garden, London, UK
- 2018 – Visual Arts Journal, New York City, NY
- 2018 – Architectural Digest, New York, NY
- 2018 – Artstar, New York City, NY
- 2017 – Artstar, New York City, NY
- 2017 – Mountainside at Northstar Magazine, Tahoe, CA
- 2017 – New Scientist, London, UK
- 2017 – Tahoe Quarterly, Tahoe, CA
- 2017 – Magnetic Magazine, Lisbon, PT
- 2017 – Mountainside at Northstar Magazine, Tahoe, CA
- 2016 – MSDS Online, London, UK
- 2016 -The Guardian, London, UK
- 2016 – Mokrin House, Resident of the week, Mokrin, RS
- 2016 – The Stage, Scotland, UK
- 2016 – Design Insider, London, UK
- 2016 – Varoom Magazine, (Front Cover) Issue No. 32, London, UK
- 2016 – F-Stop Magazine Issue No. 75, Online
- 2016 – The Art Newspaper, Issue No. 276 London, UK
- 2016 – Landscape Photography Magazine, Online
- 2015 – Hasselblad, Our World Story, Gothenburg, SWE
- 2015 – Positive Magazine, London, UK
- 2015 – Inhabitat, California, US
- 2015 – London Independent Photography Magazine, London, UK
- 2015 – Artistics, Paris, FR
- 2015 – The Telegraph, London, UK
- 2015 – Vice, Netherlands, NL
- 2015 – Chrisite’s, Frieze Little Black Book, London, UK
- 2015 – New Scientist, London, UK
- 2015 – Designboom, London, UK
- 2015 – Abandon Normal Devices, Grizedale Forest, UK
- 2015 – W.l.R.E.D, London, UK
- 2015 – Introspective Magazine, Thoroughly Modern Miami, Miami, FL
- 2015 – LS:N Global, London, UK
- 2014 – Cabin Porn, Cabins on the coast, Iceland, ISL
- 2014 – Martin Brudnizki Design Studio, London, UK
- 2012 – New York Times, New York City, US
- 2011 – Petka, Photo Terrapanonica, Mokrin, RS
- 2011 – Wall Street Journal, New York City, US
- 2009 – Podroze Travel Magazine, Venice, IT
- 2009 – Podroze Travel Magazine, London, UK
