
Rodney Smith
Photography Between Real and Surreal
Anne Morin(Editor)
Silvana (Publisher)
Published on 25. September 2025
Book
Hardback
200 pages
978-88-366-5887-9 (ISBN)
Description
The work of Rodney Smith (1947-2016) is above all an invitation to insinuate oneself into a world suspended between illusion and reality. Far from the modern conventions of documentary photography or realism, Smith has created a unique language on the boundary between these two worlds.
Each of his sublime, supreme images exerts a real fascination over the viewer, for they are the site of polarity and duality, of the utterance and its contradiction, of the place and its reverse.
Rodney Smith is not content merely to document the world; he transforms it and magnifies it, and only photography is capable of delivering, in a flash, his strange visions, his kind of visual impulses, as stunning and explosive as if they were about to break the sound barrier.
Text in English and Italian.
Each of his sublime, supreme images exerts a real fascination over the viewer, for they are the site of polarity and duality, of the utterance and its contradiction, of the place and its reverse.
Rodney Smith is not content merely to document the world; he transforms it and magnifies it, and only photography is capable of delivering, in a flash, his strange visions, his kind of visual impulses, as stunning and explosive as if they were about to break the sound barrier.
Text in English and Italian.
More details
Language
English
Italian
Place of publication
Milan
Italy
Illustrations
150 Illustrations, color
Dimensions
Height: 286 mm
Width: 242 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
1326 gr
ISBN-13
978-88-366-5887-9 (9788836658879)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Anne Morin is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale de Photographie d'Arles and the Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts de Montpellier. She worked for the PHotoEspana Festival between 2001 and 2004, before becoming the head of diChroma Photography (Madrid), a company specialising in international travelling photographic exhibitions, as well as in the development and production of cultural projects. From time to time she also reinvents herself as a publisher of photography books, and edited books such as Antonio Lopez, Visionary Writing, Margaret Watkins Black Light, or Paul Alexandre Slowness. She has curated many exhibitions of prestigious photographers and artists.
Content
14 Il paradosso di Rodney Smith
17 The Paradox of Rodney Smith
Leslie Smolan
18 Visioni cinematografiche
21 Cinematic Visions
Susan Bright
36 L'architettura dell'aria
39 The Architecture of Air
Anne Morin
51 Fotografia tra reale e surreale
Photography between real and surreal
52 La divina proporzione
The Divine Proportion
68 Gravita
Gravity
82 Spazi eterei
Ethereal Spaces
96 Attraverso lo specchio
Through the Looking-Glass
110 Il tempo e la permanenza
Time and Permanence
124 Luce
Light
138 Passaggi
Passages
153 Apparati
Appendix
154 Opere in mostra
Exhibition checklist
162 Cronologia
163 Chronology
167 Gli autori
Contributors
17 The Paradox of Rodney Smith
Leslie Smolan
18 Visioni cinematografiche
21 Cinematic Visions
Susan Bright
36 L'architettura dell'aria
39 The Architecture of Air
Anne Morin
51 Fotografia tra reale e surreale
Photography between real and surreal
52 La divina proporzione
The Divine Proportion
68 Gravita
Gravity
82 Spazi eterei
Ethereal Spaces
96 Attraverso lo specchio
Through the Looking-Glass
110 Il tempo e la permanenza
Time and Permanence
124 Luce
Light
138 Passaggi
Passages
153 Apparati
Appendix
154 Opere in mostra
Exhibition checklist
162 Cronologia
163 Chronology
167 Gli autori
Contributors