Born in 1965 in Naples (Italy). Lives in Naples.

Since 1994, Aniello Barone photographs the reality of cities and suburbs with a preference for environment, immigration and marginalization. His works were shown in numerous Italian cities.

Aniello Barone's Naples is a personal vision of a geographical space today in the center of the electoral, environmental and sanitary debates of international interest. That is why the gallery PIèCE UNIQUE did not hesitate to overturn its exhibition planning to fit with the actuality denouncing the irresponsible management which led the province of Naples to be a victim of an emergency by presenting the works of Barone who confirms here his commitment in the environment by questioning us about an overwhelming reality: the overflowing of garbage.

The new series of black and white photos presented in both spaces of the gallery (with a large scale one at PIèCE UNIQUE), is a sensitization to point out those who sold off the Neapolitans’ dignity by besieging them with bundles of waste. One can see there dustbins and garbage spreading out, pell-mell, as far as the eye can see; here, at the feet of houses and, even, at the windows of fashion shops; there, spread in fields or accompanying the highway, always farther… The staggering strength of these images lies in the double tension the artist settles between the aesthetics of his works and the violence made to these landscapes, between the documentary side of his photos and the feelings of a fictitious reality.

The title of the exhibition Il Magnifico Orrore ("The Magnificent Horror") announces clearly the confusion these photos arouse.

There are photos and there are texts. Those of the writers Erri De Luca and Tahar Ben Jelloun, "plunged into mourning by so much organized ugliness", who wrote for the book to be published dedicated to this Aniello Barone’s series of works. They do participate also in the consciousness of a disaster and illustrate with poetry this “crisis of the garbage”.

This exhibition is being organized in association with Incontri Internazionali d’Arte Contemporanea Roma.


Tahar Ben Jelloun on Aniello Barone (English) Naples – our pillaged memory
Tahar Ben Jelloun on Aniello Barone (Italian) Napoli - la nostra saccheggiata memoria