GIOVANNI GASTEL
Photographer

He is one of the most internationally renowned Italian photographers and has collaborated for thirty years with leading fashion magazines. He works primarily with large-format Polaroid and a 20×25 view camera. A strong advocate of experimentation, he introduced original techniques into fashion photography such as old mix, cross-processing, painterly reworkings, and ironic still life compositions.
An heir to the style associated with Milanese nobility (he is the nephew of Luchino Visconti), he is able to distill culture, elegance, and charm without making them feel heavy. He has published the volumes Gastel per Donna and I gioielli della fantasia (1991), La fotografia velata on the occasion of his solo exhibition at the Triennale di Milano curated by Germano Celant (1997), Genesi (2007), Giovanni Gastel Maschere e Spettri for his solo exhibition at the Palazzo della Ragione curated by Germano Celant (2009), Piero Lissoni Recent Architecture (2010), Cose Viste (2011), Poltrona Frau, L’intelligenza delle mani (2012), Look Beyond and La nobiltà del Fare (2013).
His commitment to the world of photography has brought him close to the AFIP Associazione Fotografi Italiani Professionisti, of which he has been President since 2012 (a role he also held from 1996 to 1998). He loves poetry—his first collection of verses was published when he was sixteen. He lives and works in Milan, in his studio on Via Tortona.

giovannigastel.it