The Diary Game 21/09/2021 - Living Statuettes, Immortalization of Movement And Rigidity of Form. Argentum by Guido Argentini.

I believe that taking photos, as well as creating any kind of art, is always a way to overcome our own mortality. Every true researcher wants to fight death. Every true artist must be a researcher, before anything else, and therefore every artist must fight for immortality - Guido Argentini

Guido Argentini was born in Florence (Italy), but since 1990 he has lived and worked in Los Angeles (USA). His works have reached the best art fairs and have been exhibited in some of the most famous galleries. They also had the honor of being sold to major auction houses, such as Christie's.

He studied medicine for three years at the University of Florence, until he discovered that in fact his passion for photography is stronger. So at the age of 23 he turns this hobby into a profession and makes photo sessions for various fashion and beauty publications. His aesthetic sense for the human body is unmatched, the beauty of the models in his photographs being enhanced by interesting compositions and well-thought-out and well-executed artistic themes.

In 1995, during a photo shoot in Miami, Argentini covered a model he was working with in a silver paint with metallic luster, hence the idea of the Argentum project, a project that was realized only a few years later, being materialized more then in 2013 in a book and a documentary.

In this Argentum project, Guido Argentini took a series of nude photos of over 100 women and men, whether they were dancers, gymnasts or acrobats. The models were completely covered in silver paint with metallic luster, taking the form of living statues.

I always felt that photography was too close to reality. Painting and sculpture allow you to be much more abstract when working with the human figure. My love for dance and sculpture inspired this series of photos, says Argentini.

The watercolor sketches of Rodin, of the dancers in very erotic and dynamic positions, as well as the abstract bronze statuettes of Brancusi, were his strongest source of inspiration. These photographs come to denote the human body both by the solidity and rigidity of a sculpture, and by the vivacity of the dance energy.

Combining the flexible mobility of the bodies with the rigid metal elements, he managed to create a fascinating series of photographs, the shiny silver paint, transforming the models into metal statues. The contrasting image of rigid metallic geometric shapes, such as triangles, circles and squares, combined with the fluidity of the human body, made Argentini famous for his ability to highlight the natural beauty of the human body in surreal environments.

To each picture, he gave as a title, a name of god or goddess, which were part of different cults and religions, such as Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Celtic, ecc. With this project he wanted to pay tribute to women everywhere, because with the rise of monotheistic religions, the importance of roles and the power that women had in ancient cults disappeared. He attributed the names of forgotten goddesses to women in his photographs, trying to pay homage to both their beauty and their spirituality.

Society has recently begun to feel that it is time to restore feminine sacred values. The world has been controlled by masculine values for a long time. This brought violence, war and a cult of materialism to humanity. The only way to save us is to restore peace and love, and to create a new world in which spirituality will become a real value, says Argentini.

The end result of many years of work has been cumulated in his book, Argentum - a series of over 100 photos expressed in a unique vision, which was published in 2013. Argentum is a book, but it is also a film -

a documentary that reveals the concepts behind the creation of this book, namely, the aesthetics of Argentini for the human body and the sports skills of the models who pose for these photos, a film that is available to the general public in the same year.