The Surreal Worlds of Italian Graphic Artist Stefano Bonazzi

Self-taught graphic artist Stefano Bonazzi depicts ethereal moments in faraway places. His sublime landscapes are inhabited by creatures of beauty and menace, juxtaposing bright, eternal spaces with dark, claustrophobic silence.

Bonazzi begins each artwork by photographing his subject: a “central ethereal figure who releases secrets of silent dreams and dark nightmares, fetishes and fear, threats and sadness, hopes and freedom.” Then with a graphic tablet, he digitally manipulates his subject to interact with photographs of objects and exceptional landscapes. Finally, he transfers his photographs to Photoshop, where he curates each image to communicate a story.

Bonazzi’s White Sky series is his most recent to date. It remains a work in progress, but stands as the first to convey optimistic themes of movement and elevation. “No longer alone or abandoned to [their] fate. . . you see the protagonists in postures of prayer or in a state of elevation. [A] white sky…replaces storms [and] dark clouds…[as] a symbol of hope for the future,” the artist explains. Bonazzi points out that White Sky is his only series in which each photograph portrays a single subject in motion; dancing, playing music, traveling.

Bonazzi’s next exhibition, Virtuality Ladder, will take place in Milan from May 18 through June 4, 2017.

Palazzo Delle Stelline, Corso Magenta, 63, 20123, Milan, Italy