The photographs in the series “Mirage” resemble images of memory and imagination. Reminiscent of pictorialism, they seemingly capture the atmosphere or felt impression of a landscape over time, attempting to go beyond the mere sense of sight. Trees appear phantom-like, similar to shadows or ephemeral cloud formations, composed by infinite tiny particles of vapour, ready to dissipate back into surrounding space. Boundaries between different objects and phenomena are blurred, hinting at an underlying oneness. Ultimately, the works evoke the contentless background in which all things materialise and dissolve, akin to the camera film or digital sensor onto which scenes are temporarily collected – or the silent field where all sounds emerge and fade away. By means of their very fleeting character, these nature views point to such deeper, ever-present and yet eluding quality or essence.
The series was shot during an artist’s residency in the High Coast of Sweden – an area renowned for having, over the course of millennia, gradually risen above sea level.
For this contest, I have selected three prints from the larger series, functioning as a triptych.
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“A bodhisattva should regard all livings beings as a wise man regards the reflection of the moon in water or as magicians regard men created by magic. He should regard them as being like a face in a mirror; like the water of a mirage; like the sound of an echo; like a mass of clouds in the sky; like the previous moment of a ball of foam; like the appearance and disappearance of a bubble of water; […] like a flash of lightning; […] like the track of a bird in the sky; like the erection of a eunuch; […] like dream-visions seen after waking.”
Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra
“Daydream transports the dreamer outside the immediate world to a world that bears the mark of infinity.”
Gaston Bachelard
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BIOGRAPHY
Matteo Rosa was born in Italy in 1978 and is currently based in Malmö, Sweden.
He holds a BA (Hons) from Edinburgh College of Art and an MFA from Malmö Art Academy.
At the core of Rosa’s artistic practice is an interest in interconnectedness – the play between form and formlessness, transience and timelessness, imagination and awareness. Nature and its contemplation are a recurrent theme, pointing to the viewer’s inner stillness. He employs various media, from drawing and painting to photography, video, text and installation.
Over the years his work has been shown at numerous venues, including Kramfors Konsthall, Kramfors (SE), Skånes Konstförening, Malmö (SE), Krognoshuset, Lund (SE), Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm (SE), Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (DK), City Art Centre, Edinburgh (GB), E:ventGallery, London (GB), The Boiler Room Gallery, Oslo (NO), Galleria Civica, Trento (IT) and Viafarini, Milan (IT).
The artist is represented in public collections such as Malmö Art Museum, Scania Regional Council, Public Art Agency Sweden and KORO - Public Art Norway, as well as in multiple private collections across Europe.