Raphael Mazzucco: Montauk at Castle Galleries

Canadian fashion photographer Raphael Mazzucco showcases for the first time in London, Mayfair. Presenting a high-end audience with mixed media artwork that conveys themes close to his heart (nature, the human body and love), Mazzucco’s work illustrates his aptitude for photography and interest in layering of different media, ultimately creating inefficient fashion artwork.

The artist chooses the black volcanic beaches of Iceland, the lush green mountains of Northern Vietnam and the barren salt flats of the Dead Sea, presenting models’ bodies and form in these similarly curvaceous settings. The theme is over-explored and this small investigation of the human body falls short of expressing anything new. The work is non-theoretical and its only function is to appeal to the eye. Failing this, the work focuses on themes of little depth, often expounding the say-what-you-see culture. Furthermore the words placed in puzzle format in his paintings are hardly intellectual, expressing common statements of love.

Mazzucco’s comment on a journey (“I feel that life is a circle, it’s a journey that always ends back at home. Montauk is where I live, and where I create most of my work”) expresses the insubstantial level and background story to his artwork. His art is entirely emotive, articulated through layers of painting, drawing, collage and resin. The black and white photography of landscapes juxtaposed with the human figure states clearly that this is where the artist feels at home.

The artwork has been sold worldwide, in particular to the fashion industry, which uses Mazzucco’s images commercially (he has produced work for Victoria’s Secret, Guess Jeans, L’Oreal and Ralph Lauren). The artist has featured in Vogue, Marie Claire, Playboy and Vanity Fair Magazine, and photographs the likes of Matt Damon, Benicio del Toro and Elizabeth Banks, among many others. Montauk is tactless art with little depth, and it works fine at this level.

Rafael Cunha

Raphael Mazzucco: Montauk is at Castle Galleries until 13^th July. For further information visit the gallery’s website here.