Photographer Piero Marsili Libelli: when irony, absurdity and talent come together

The photographs of Piero Marsili Libelli are striking in how the author freely disposes of reality and fiction. Even venerable experts of photographic art find it difficult to classify that photographer to any style, he is so original and unpredictable.

Piero Marsili Libelli was born in 1947 in the City of Masters-Florence. The story of his appeal to art is unusual and very instructive.

In his childhood and youth, he was not interested in photography or painting, he first became interested in drawing when he was over 20, and discovered photography after 30 years. He himself tells about it like this:

Libelli... stole his first camera. He took a bag with a Canon camera and accessories from a drunk Japanese man sleeping on a chair in one of the bars in Milan. Friends taught the guy the first lessons of simple photography and Piero fell in love with photography. Just a couple of years later, he was already a real pro and even got a job at the newspaper "Evening Bulletin" (Corriere della Sera).

But Libelli began to realize himself in full force as a creator after moving to Rome. There he signed a contract with the publication L'Espresso, which covered events around the world. Business trips to different countries began, and in each Piero left a piece of himself, and in return he took away beautiful shots.

Egypt, Afghanistan, Mali, Lebanon, Belfast, Romania, Kosovo, India, Japan, Pakistan – the geography of the photographer's travels is extremely extensive. Piero shot both in "hot spots" and on fashion catwalks – his courage, mobility and versatility was a real godsend for the editorial staff.

Recognition in creative circles was not long in coming – Libelli was invited to shoot in the theater and on film sets, he worked with such titans as Michelangelo Antonioni, Marco Ferreri, Bigas Luna, Francesco Rosi, Wim Wenders, Vittorio Storaro.

Libelli is valuable for his extraordinary view of the world. Only in his pictures you can see armed Taliban in Ray-Ban glasses, a model posing in the middle of the Romanian Revolution and just people who are doing strange things with completely serious faces. For this mixture of irony and absurdity, thickly mixed with talent, Piero Marsili Libelli became the favorite of millions.