INTERVIEW BY H. CANDEE

Buffalo Yellowstone

THE PHOTOGRAPHY of Claudio DaNapoli

Interview by Harryet Candee

I feel your enthusiasm of the world through your photographic images, Claudio, and I wanted to ask you, of all the ways to communicate life and its history, what was the main reason you were steered into photographing our world? Art has always been in my blood: My mother is a painter, my father is an art collector and my grandfather was a noted goldsmith. I was destined to do something in the world of art. As a child, both my parents worked, consequently, starting at a young age I was permitted to wander my home city of Naples, Italy alone. Because I am a nerd through and through, I didn’t get into trouble on the streets but instead was drawn to the beauty of the city’s churches and museums. My afternoons and weekends were filled with awe as I strolled amidst works of the great masters. Frustratingly, I did not have the ability to paint or sculpt or even draw a stick figure. Therefore, when I discovered photography, I was enamored with the idea of being able to “creatively express myself” since the pencil had declared war on me. From that time on, life moved quite quickly, and I moved right along with it. When I was unexpectedly offered the opportunity to spend 6months learning English in the United States I could not refuse. Over 30 years later, I continue to thrive in my adopted country. Over the decades in the USA, I have found jobs, changed jobs; found homes, changed homes; found a wife --kept her. In hindsight, I note that my attraction to images has followed me everywhere. I have self-studied, and still am, in graphic design, worked as a web designer and created videos that would market other people’s efforts. For some unknown reason, however, I never considered making a living out of images or art. It was, after all, merely a hobby. Then I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis! Suddenly aware that my life could degenerate without notice, I sought to ensure that every moment until that time was spent pursing what what I loved. If I didn’t jump now, it may be too late in the future. Hand-in-hand, my wife and I launched ourselves into the unknown. We sold our home and everything in it to travel full-

Claudio DaNapoli 110,000

time and rediscover happiness. For me, that also meant working with images. The power of images lies in their ability to evoke a limitless range of reactions: shock, compassion, wonderment, disgust, or even terror. I seek to tap into these wide-ranging sentiments and spur discussions about the fantastic world that I am discovering in my travels.

You have exposed the good, the bad, and the ugly, let’s say. You hide nothing and expose us to your findings. We feel disturbed and joyous with you. Thank you for giving us your birds eye view. Has this work made you more of a people person since you are facing your public with your art? Do you still prefer to be hidden behind the camera? I am referring to your statement about being an introvert. I have always been and always expect to be an introvert. That is part of my Authentic Self. My most honest Self is shared through my art. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I also have a very strong Performance Self. When I am in a position to speak directly with people about my work, it is almost as if I become this other person in order to enable myself to speak freely and appear comfortable. However, truth be told, after a protracted period of intense human interaction, I do require an interval of hibernation. During this time, I recharge my proverbial batteries by working on meaningful and generally minimalist projects; muted colors, simple shapes and uncomplicated lines.

I am very interested in the photograph you took that is now showing at the Wit Gallery in Lenox, MA. It is the one of the shoes on a wired inset cabinet. Can you unravel the beauty, mystery and tragic history behind this work? What makes it extra special to you? 110,000. That is the title of this piece, and I am delighted you connected with it as this capture is one of my favorites. With this image, there are two things you should know: 1) I have a strong sense of justice and the idea oppressor vs. oppressed. Consequently, as I learned about the atrocities carried out by the Nazi’s, those horrific images stayed with me into adulthood and 2) I have always felt uncomfortable being herded; cramming myself into a morning commuter subway car in NYC shoulder-to-shoulder with teaming masses of humanity or even jostling for position within a crowd for fans headed into sports arena for a soccer match. These two personal traits accompanied me as we reached Alcatraz State Penitentiary. There we were led off a boat, up a ramp and filed into a tight line that wound through the prisoner processing area and around gang showers that were required of every new arrival. These shoes were off to the side in the portion of the processing area where new prisoners exchanged their street clothes for the prison attire they were forced to wear. Goosebumps covered my arms as my imagination went into overdrive. I was suddenly transported to Auschwitz: the showers, the abandoned shoes, the systematic herding of people, the sheer hopelessness mixed with terror my fellow humans must have felt. I visualized the fresh-off-the-boat prisoners walking silently though the ordeal of assimilating to their new home. I heard the sounds of their shoes echoing against the tile floor. I was reminded of the sounds I heard in some of the WWII film footage. The feeling was deep and compelling. Stepping out of the ticket line, I captured what I could of the moment. Upon reviewing the image later that evening, I was dissatisfied. My emotions were so much stronger that what was portrayed in the photograph. The frustration reminded me of what my father kept telling me about Italian artist Lucio Fontana and how in frustration he would slice his canvases because he felt too constrained by them. I also needed my work to go beyond the 2-D. I settled upon the inclusion of a QR code with this image: in reading the code with a smartphone, the viewer I bring the viewer to a very powerful recording Continued on next page...

Claudio DaNapoli Turning Blue

of Hitler speaking in harsh tones; in the background the noise of a marching battalion; and then, ever so gently, the sound of a chorus, a multitude of people peacefully united in prayer raise into a triumphant Hebrew song takes over the recording. The oppressed are victorious, the light triumphs over darkness, and for a moment there is a sense of justice enveloping the viewer/hearer. went our separate ways. While I always shoot in color, there are times when I choose a black and white rendering of the subject because I want to convey the essence of the subject, the subject’s purity in a way. In black and white, textures pop more dramatically, lines have greater definition and shapes are highlighted and yet exposing the subject alluring simplicity.

Of all the places you have travelled to, tell us about the most intriguing, and why. Ever capture a haunting? I always search for spots off the beaten path. Maybe it is my childish desire to find a long-forgotten treasure or maybe it is merely my human drive toward exploring the unknown. As you can imagine, the results of these wanderings are anything but certain. One day, we had taken a canoe out along a locally popular river, with many twisting and confusing tributaries. We paddled up several, each time awed by the beauty we saw, and ever careful to note our trail so we could return to the proper portion of the main river. Eventually, we came across 3-4 empty beer cans floating in the water near the riverbank. It was the first garbage we had noticed all day, so it immediately took our attention. With a bit of investigation, we determined that this refuse had floated down one particular offshoot of the river. Of course, this meant we felt compelled to travel along this river branch in search of the source of this litter. Sadly, we found it. At the source was a hanging rope from which people could swing over the surface of the water and drop themselves into a sufficiently deep spot. Judging from the refuse that peppered the swimming hole, this was a popular spot. I got out of the canoe, into the water and started documenting this tragedy. My fury mounted and I literally could not stop myself from taking pictures of what I was seeing. By the time we started home, neither I nor Susan had noticed the sun had begun going down. We had 12 miles to paddle with only the light of one iPhone to guide us. Our landmarks were no longer clearly visible. We set out. I can’t quite describe the sounds of a tropical forest at night. The birds. The fish. The other unidentified animals. And in the dark anything you don’t recognize sounds dangerous and ominous somehow. It was certainly an adrenaline rush the likes of which I had never experienced before. Despite our habit of “gentle trespassing” into abandoned buildings, deserted home or desolate industrial sites, this was perhaps one of the most intriguing, mysterious and even spooky locations because we were keenly aware that we

I adore “ Are you Ready for you Close-up” that I spotted on your website. How did you go about getting so close to the buffalo, or was it a micro lens at work? How did you go about deciding it was good in black and white? Or is it also in color? A happy accident, as Bob Ross would say. I was laying prone, in order to capture a sunset image of a buffalo herd framed by two birch trees. The herd was quite far away so I did not feel in any danger. Suddenly, in a firm but calm stage whisper, my wife instructed me, “Very slowly, look to your left.” As I carefully shifted my gaze, I found that this giant had silently wandered next to me. I didn’t move and neither did he. Deciding that I couldn’t pass up this opportunity, I raised my camera and risked scaring him off. He held his ground. I stayed frozen until his grazing was satisfied. Then we both

Claudio DaNapoli Mammoth Springs, Yellowstone

were out of our depth, so to speak. And no, unfortunately we have not captured a haunting… yet…

Catch that thang! You got it. The water shots are so “moving” to me. Atop Mammoth Hot Springs must have been one of your fun adventures? My wife and I like to say that end any day we can say, “Well at least we didn’t die today.” Is a good day; meaning, the day was full of adventure, and we were left with an awesome story to share. Yellowstone National Park was full of those moments, for us. After visiting Mammoth Hot Springs, we were 100% captivated by the boiling, acid water that spewed from cracks in the earth’s crust, as well as the travertine formations they created. We craved more. With a bit of research, we decided that the Imperial Geyser would fit the bill. It was a lesser-known hot spring about a 7-miles from the trailhead, which was comfortably within our limits. Until it wasn’t. I don’t mean to point fingers; but, on this particular day, my wife was in charge of planning our route. Not being known for her mathematical prowess, she apparently made an error when adding the sections of the hike. Once we got to where we thought was about 1 mile from the end, we realized we still had about 8 miles remaining. Low on daylight and even lower on water, we silently trudged on. Blistered, sweaty and thirsty beyond description, we did make it back to our cabin. The luxury of fresh running water was never so appreciated.

From all the elements, (earth, wind, fire, water, air…etc) what element do you jive with the most, and why? While I do gravitate to all of nature’s elements, I would have to say that most of all, I am an earth guy. Why? I love adventure and the unexpected. I see a mountain, a hill, even a simple mound and am immediately I am drawn to climb it in search of what may lay beyond it. If I find myself in the flat, bone-dry desert, I am pulled to the horizon toward what may await me there. In a lush topical forest, I am constantly peering into the dense vegetation, because “you never know.” I feel all of the mother earth’s features speak to the adventurous soul of human kind: the idea of going beyond the known, the idea of not settling for what is, the idea of discovering new horizons and to fulfill our thirst for the unknown. us about that. ( capturing certain people and things can be very challenging, yes?) Shots can be difficult for different reasons. One of my most challenging shots involved a vision I had about illustrating the dangers of using too much plastic – The project rested on a simple idea: the apocalypse has come and all that remain was one young woman and only items made of plastic. To create what was in my mind, my wife and I built the survivor’s hut out of recycled single-use plastic bags. To bind this structure, we learned how to fabricate “plarn” or yarn made of single use plastic bags that we collected in empty lots about town. We fashioned her clothing out of discarded plastic tarp found along the roadside. Her necklace was a combination of plarn and the flip-tops from used aluminum cans. This creation took us approximately 2-months of head-down, 8-10 hour per day work. Then we set out into the desert in search of a suitable photoshoot location. Of course, we needed some place uninhabited, but not so isolated that our model might be uncomfortable working with strangers. When we stumbled upon a large animal skeleton bleaching in the intense sun, we knew we had found the perfect spot. Then, on the day of the shoot, an unexpected wind whooshed across the sands, Continued on next page...

Claudio DaNapoli Dancing Iin the Moonlight... Two difficult shots!

Cloud Factor...Another difficult shot by Claudio

taking our “home” with it. But, most importantly, we did get the photo! A second challenging shot was something I titled Cloud Factory. In this instance, we were driving back from a day of wandering Death Valley. En route, we noticed smokestacks from a factory in an otherwise scenic area of the mountains. We wondered what this image would look like when the smokestacks were actually functioning. Not knowing the factory’s schedule, we drove back to that same location over the course of several days and different times during those days. After we got a sense of when the smokestacks were operation we sought to determine when there might be clouds in the sky to complete my vision. With 210 days of full sunshine per year, the statistics were not with us. Finally, we saw the clouds coming in, jumped in our car and took off for our now familiar spot. The photo was worth the wait.

I also really like, Welcome to the Jungle. It has a design element going on. Can you give credit to your graphic design background for this? I have always been drawn to visual beauty. Before I was even aware that graphic design was a discipline, I would tinker with shapes and colors simply to understand what I found most attractive or most eye-catching. This was, you could say, a hobby of mine. I have not pursued formal education in graphic design nor in any form of art, but I have studied many of the greats on my own. My main artistic influences have been the Social Realism and Expressionism movements of the 1930s and their proponents such as Lewis Hine and Bruno Caruso; as well as environmental and performance artists such as Agnes Denes and Ana Mendieta. However, I also borrow inspiration from the likes of Caravaggio, Fontana, Munch and Grant Wood.

Claudio DaNapoli’s landscape photograph

I do try to bear all of this in mind as I approach my camera work. When I compose an image, not only do I look at the obvious --getting a clear shot of the subject; however, I also consider what shapes or lines or even other media might invite the viewer deeper into the image.

What do you and your partner enjoy together that is artistically productive? The realities of covid combined with a nomadic existence, I would say that my wife Susan and I do most things together. We enjoy the intense graphic experience of video games and seeing how much can be done to enhance an image, taking online courses in art history to gain a greater understanding of and appreciation for art’s evolution and just playing I Spy to train ourselves in noticing finer details.

Tell us about the work you have at The Wit Gallery? I am honored that Lynda Strauch, of The Wit Gallery has chosen to display my work. In a world of “don’t rock the boat” and “don’t make waves” I find her willingness to share pieces that may be construed as controversial to be both courageous and bold. The works currently being shown by The Wit Gallery come primarily from my Eco collection. Through this work, I seek to bring As a photographer, I seek to capture reality. In this day and age, pollution is a part of our reality. We don’t have to like it, but we can’t ignore its existence. Accordingly, as I travel and take photographs of magnificent sites, it is incumbent upon me to record the truth of the larger setting. Do not misunderstand. In no way does the inclusion of these foreign objects in my work mean that I condone the contamination of our land, water or air. It actually signifies a profound struggle: my simultaneous acceptance and rejection of the current state. Perhaps because I am not an environmental fanatic, I am able to come to terms with plastic being a permanent part of my world. I can acknowledge the value of a disposable society. In stark contrast stands my deep-seated rejection of the thoughtless, needless pollution of our home. I am repeatedly disgusted by seeing nature violated. I believe this conflict I feel is present in my photographs. Other pieces at The Wit Gallery are part of my Conversations series. The foundation of my art rests on two ideas: one - Hedonistic suppressive dissonance, which is the innate coping mechanism through which we willfully bury disturbing realities; and two - The human condition can only be advanced through the exchange of ideas. Consequently, I bait the viewer into having meaningful conversations by combining the aesthetic of an image with the power of its accompanying narrative, thereby combatting our innate need for comfort while progressing the conversation. It is my intention to present uncomfortable realities and force the observers to explore the ethical, moral, and pragmatic ramifications of their beliefs and subsequent conclusions. At that very moment, whether they opt to embrace a new point of view or remain of their original opinion, my mandate has been fulfilled. auto-biographical work illustrating the wounds that parents cause their children, and the scars with which children are then forced to deal as adults. I envision a naked male curled in a fetal position while being pummeled by negative words emanating from his nearby parental figures. The words will cut and burn his skin causing it to scar. Truth be told, whether intentional or accidental, the pain caused by hurtful words is real. In a larger sense, I am also exploring different ways that I can include more senses in my photography. My goal is to expand photography into a mixed media form of art through the addition of 3-dimensional pieces that invite viewers to literally feel the piece and its message. Including music or sound-on-demand allows folks to experience my work on a more profound level, as music always brings a very emotional response from people. Or what if certain portion of the image can come to life also as a 3D object? That is why I am also learning about Augmented Reality as yet another technique to expand the sensory message of a photo.

Thank you!

claudiodanapoli.com

The Wit Gallery is located at 27 Church Street in Lenox, MA

What is next for you on your photographic journey? The newest project on which I am working is an