Photographer Massimo Vitali exposes people at play

Massimo Vitali's unique views of the rites and rituals of modern-day leisure are on display in his third exhibition at M+B in Los Angeles, from September 11 to October 16, 2010.

Featuring new work from 2009 and 2010, the exhibition includes eight large-scale color photographs from Austria, Croatia, Sicily and Turkey. An opening reception will be held Sept. 11, 6-8 pm.

Vitali's photography occupies a place between documentary realism and the surreal. His landscapes are casually inhabited by figures such as sunbathers and tourists who often forget about the photographer's presence, as he waits for such a moment while perched 20 feet in the air on a platform.

Ever interested in the ways in which people interact with their environment and each other, Vitali's images satisfy a sociological desire as well as a voyeuristic longing to observe unawares. On this level his works are happily profitable, as each mural-sized work allows for the intimate perusal of hundreds of candid portraits.

Vitali, who was born in Como, Italy in 1944, is internationally-acclaimed for his large-scale works depicting people at play on the beach, at ski locations, and a vareity of tourist destinations. He has exhibited extensively in museums and galleries worldwide, and his work is found in some of the most important private and public collections in the world.

This fall, Steidl will publish their third monograph of Vitali's work titled Landscape with Figures 2.