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ALBERT
RUSSO:
POET
AS PHOTOGRAPHER / PHOTOGRAPHER AS POET
Albert
Russo - novelist, essayist, short story writer, poet
..... photographer.
Of some fifty-five book publications to-date, eighteen of
Russo's books are photographic essays. These titles
include impressions from travels around the world,
quirkiness and humour in human experience, studies of
sculptures, autobiographical essays with photography as
the medium, and more. Had Russo not had such a passion for
art and literature, he would surely have had a fine career
as a photojournalist for commercial publishers of travel
books, travel guides and travel magazines. However,
Russo's inclination towards the artistic and social
elements of human predicament and expression, coupled with
his love of poetry, has resulted in a myriad of
publications which effectively express poetic and literary
curiosity through poetry's modern-day "first
cousin": photography. I use the word "curiosity"
intentionally as Russo never forces his impressions upon
us as an expression of "truth", but rather guides us
through his own personal experiences and thoughts through
visual exposés. Sometimes the progressive order of
photographs in some of his books can seem somewhat
illogical as Russo presents us with his own
"connections" between impressions as he sees them as
an artist - rather than grouping photographs in an order
that an advertising executive or commercial travel book
might choose. This is Russo's prerogative, his
perspective .. and an important aspect of his own unique
poetic expression.
Some of his photography books are combinations of texts
and pictures, and others are without texts. The absence of
titles is a bold artistic statement in itself, relying
upon the strength and the progression of photographs
themselves to tell the author's/photographer's
personal story. Personally, I prefer the books that
consist of photographs alone as I do not always relate to
the accompanying texts and find them sometimes to be as
annoying as I find signatures on the front side of
paintings (when the signatures not only do not add to the
overall work of art, but actually detract from the viewing
experience). But this is a question of personal taste.
Having a background both within visual art and poetry, I
- like Albert Russo - am capable of understanding the
"poetry" in the photographic presentations without
explanation or added literary decoration. I think this is
true for many (if not most) persons who enjoy photography
books as works of art.
Russo's photographic essays to-date include: "A poetic
biography", "Brussels ride", "Chinese puzzle",
"City of lovers", "Granada", "En / in France",
"Israel at heart", "Italia nostra", "Mexicana",
"New York at heart", "Pasión de España",
"Quirk", "Rainbow nature", "Saint-Malo",
"Sardinia", "Sri Lanka", and his newest: "Body
glorious" and "Norway to Spitzberg" (both released
in 2007). These are almost exclusively full-colour photos
.. a medium which Russo plays with combining childlike
naiveté and curiosity for the unusual aspects of the
"banal", and exciting excursions into the nature and
the planet's overall cultural diversity, with a broad
palette of professional techniques. Russo goes to great
pains to mix traditional images with their contemporary
partners and counterparts, and to play with exposure,
light, filters and clarity/non-clarity in order to
exaggerate aspects of the culture and to communicate his
own personal experiences and sensations. I would like to
see a photographic essay by Albert Russo, in which he
translates his interactive communication between
photographer/poet and subject to the medium of black and
white photography. I am certain that Russo would find even
more exciting nuances and enigmatic photographic puzzles
through the usage of light, shadows, layers of greyness
etc., which would even further enhance his natural
highly-effective ability to penetrate beyond
picture-taking .. and far, far into the inner energy forms
and thoughts of his photographic subjects/objects and
their surrounding environment/conditions.
Perhaps the most unusual photographic essay is his "A
Poetic Biography", published in 2006. The book is
exactly what the title suggests: a collection of
photographs of Russo, his family members and friends in
various situations and environments, and over a period of
several decades. Here Russo includes both photographs of
people (colour and some black and white), photographs of
letters and telefaxes, telegrams, articles on Russo as an
author etc. - all without explanation or commentary. In
this way, Russo uses the classic "first person" style
of prose-writing to create an almost surrealistic glimpse
into the inner reaches of Russo's personality, history,
personal life, ambitions and self-identity. The book
leaves us with a yearning to discover that personal aspect
which Russo has not commented on, but which most other
artists and authors usually make no bones about
proclaiming ad nauseam: namely, his dreams .. and what his
life might have been like otherwise.
Another fun and beautiful photographic exposé is
Russo's latest book: "Norway to Spitzberg". I have
previously reviewed this book and commented:
"Albert Russo's photographic essay illustrating a
cruise ship voyage with the Costa Atlantica («La città
ideale») along the coast of Norway, from the city of
Bergen (birthplace of composer Edvard Grieg) to the top of
the globe (Spitzberg) is fascinating not only because of
his realizing the full circle of «post-post-realism» in
modern photography, but also because Mr. Russo transforms
the tourist «photo-stalker» experience into the creation
of a professional visual compendium - combining dramatic
and magnificent seascapes, fjordscapes and landscapes with
the intimacy of still lifes, the humanity of people at
work and play and in their quiet, alone moments, as well
as the extremities of fauna, and indigenous peoples and
their cultural expressions and living environments. It is
not difficult to understand that Mr. Russo is also an
accomplished poet and a master of prose-writing. The
stories he tells in this photographic essay are not a mere
show of proficiency as regards each individual work of
art, but rather a dance of images as vivid as an operatic
performance - full of passion, drama, silences, humour
and music. Mr. Russo has employed a Canon digital Ixus 55
- 5.0 megapixels camera, with 3x optical zoom. His «eye»
for discerning, and his talent for capturing the «photographic
moment», the mastery of light and clarity vs. slight
distortion etc. is a testament to his delicious sense of
artistry as well as his empathy for the experience of
being human."
Out of curiosity, I took contact with Albert Russo to ask
him to comment on his love for photography. Here is his
comment:
"In response to your question: I've always liked
photography, from my adolescent years in Africa; actually
I loved filming too and my 8mm or super 8mm films looked
more like stills than films. People would complain telling
me: "Oh God, five minutes on the same object, flower,
trees, landscape, whatever, enough already!" Ever since
my African days I've been taking photos with all kinds of
cameras, from the standard Kodak box, to the famous German
Minox, to the Fujica ST-605 (wonderful camera that
accompanied me everywhere) - often using the Rexastar lens
for close-ups) (1:3.5 - f- 135mm) alternately with the
smaller but very friendly Minolta 70W Riva zoom, and now
with the Canon digital Ixus 55. I have probably forgotten
a few other cameras I had. Oh I used to take many colour
slides in Africa (which I still have tucked away
somewhere, and should think of printing the best). Poetry
and photography? They are always closely related. A good
picture tells a thousand things to the beholder if he/she
pays attention to it, and the 'right' word suggests a
thousand other things, that is why I never like to simply
write captions under my photos. Actually now I do not wish
to write anything at all, the photo must speak to you on
its own."
In conclusion, I would recommend that art photography and
poetry enthusiasts take note of this talented artist. As
one who has reviewed his collected poetry and read many of
his novels, short stories and essays, I can attest that
his literary talent complements his photographic
expression. Albert Russo is artistically self-integrated
in all of his creative disciplines.
BIOGRAPHICAL
INFORMATION:
A bilingual author,
Albert Russo writes in both English and French, his two
'mother tongues'. He is the recipient of many awards,
including among others The American Society of Writers
Fiction Award, The British Diversity Short Story Award,
several New York Poetry Forum Awards, Amelia Prose and
Poetry awards and the Prix Colette. He has also been
nominated for the W.B. Yeats and Robert Penn Warren poetry
awards.
His work, which has been praised by James Baldwin, Pierre
Emmanuel, Paul Willems and Edmund White, has appeared
worldwide in a dozen languages. His African novels have
been favourably compared to the work of V.S. Naipaul, who
was honoured with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001.
He is a member of the jury for the Prix Européen, and sat
in 1996 on the panel of the prestigious Neustadt Prize for
Literature, which often leads to the Nobel Prize.
ALBERT RUSSO'S
BOOKS:
His last
publications in English: ZANY, ZAPINETTE NEW YORK, MIXED
BLOOD and ECLIPSE OVER LAKE TANGANYIKA, all three
published by Domhan Books (NY); THE BENEVOLENT AMERICAN IN
THE HEART OF DARKNESS (which contains his three
award-winning African novels: THE BLACK ANCESTOR, MIXED
BLOOD and ECLIPSE OVER LAKE TANGANYIKA), OH ZAPERETTA!
(the hilarious series, taught at the Catholic University
of Paris), and THE CROWDED WORLD OF SOLITUDE, VOLUMES 1
& 2 (THE COLLECTED STORIES - which has just won an
honorable mention at the Writer's Digest International
Awards - and THE COLLECTED POEMS, the latter with Xlibris
(USA)), along with about 20 books of photography; in
French: L'AMANT DE MON PÈRE (Ed. Le Nouvel Athanor),
ZAPINETTE CHEZ LES BELGES, L'AMANT DE MON PÈRE: JOURNAL
ROMAIN, l'ANCETRE NOIRE and LA TOUR SHALOM, all four
published by Editions Hors Commerce (Paris). His novel
SANG MELE will be published in February 2007, this time by
Editions Gingko, in Paris.
- Adam
Donaldson Powell
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