George Tatge – "Il colore del caso"

by Beatrice Bruni
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The exhibition by photographer George Tatge Il Colore del Caso at Palazzo Fabroni has been extended until 15 March 2020.

The exhibition marked the reopening of the important site of the Museo del Novecento e del Contemporaneo in Pistoia, after some significant renovation works, with the refurbishment of a large portion of the ground floor, earmarked for museum functions, and which will be concluded with a reconfiguration of the outdoor space as a contemporary “author’s garden”.

Il Colore del Caso is a particularly incisive title: both because Tatge offers seventy colour images, adhering to an unusual modus operandi – he is famous for having almost always worked in black and white – and because ultimately the protagonist of this production is just Chance: the adventurous encounter of a wandering traveller, never satisfied, with his inseparable Deardorff optical bench 13×18 cm, with natural, anthropic or anthropized elements, which are not sought, but, rather, found, welcomed and therefore portrayed by the careful, deep and meditative gaze of the author.

Blue fence, Imperia, 2013 © George Tatge

The exhibition, curated by Carlo Sisi, who has previously collaborated with George Tatge on some projects in the Pistoia area, was designed in relation to the architectural context of the building that houses it.

The images are divided into six sections by theme: in the first room it’s Meta-spaces that welcomes the visitor, to then move on to Apparitions, Colour, Vegetation, to pass by Cages and reach Surfaces in the upper part of the museum, in the large mezzanine above the second floor.

In the Meta-spaces chapter, albeit in colour, the poetics of the metaphysical compositions dear to the author are well recognizable in the images of Livorno. Immediately after, the photographs of Turin and Trieste amaze for the daring urban perspectives, forewarning an unusual experience. Then comes Apparitions: images of places with unexpected presences and illogical combinations, captured by the author with wise irony.

Three cypresses, Prato, 2012 © George Tatge

The theme of Colour is proposed through heaps of industrial fabrics, with intriguing, vital shapes and suspended atmospheres.

In the Vegetation section chaos takes over, perhaps to imply that today the reading of nature cannot be separated from the awareness of how dramatically man has affected its fate.

In Cages, Tatge lets the form prevail over the continuity of the narrative. And finally Surfaces, perhaps the most unexpected section. Slow shots where one can perceive the materiality, the presence of light, the consistency, the colours, in a series of details to explore. The metaphysical and spiritual suggestions, characteristic of the author’s poetics are therefore partly maintained also in this body of work, where chromatic and formal games partly prevail, unexpected and vibrant.

On show: George Tatge, Ginori, Pietrasanta (Lucca), 2015 © Beatrice Bruni

The exhibition ends with a 15-minute video showing the images that Tatge has produced in the past for two publications on Pistoia, crowning the bond between the author and the city, accompanied by the evocative music of William Tatge, renowned pianist and New York jazz composer and son of the photographer.