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Stefano Nicolini 
The Swimmer 
[Swimming Pools (Piscine)] 
2009 
  
Colour slide 35 mm, printed on Hahnemuehle Baryta paper 
70 x 107 cm 
  
Provided by the artist - Stefano Nicolini 
 
LL/37494 
  
This is one of my favourite photographs in Piscine [Swimming pools] and it falls within my classification of a Photo-Drawing. Many see in the Swimmer's stroke the tail of a whale. This is just one of the various identifications with cetaceans and sharks which seem to want to link Piscine to the many works I have dedicated to these protagonists of the oceans. I cannot concentrate on this figurative aspect. Instead, I feel as if I am swimming with the anonymous protagonist of the photograph. I would like to mention that although these photos portray renowned champions, I prefer to safeguard their identity so as not to distract the observer from the image itself and its contents.
 
In the majestic stroke, the back of the hand and the forearm appear stripped of their muscles similarly to those of the automaton swimmers in other photos. However, the muscles of the arm and the slightly visible curve under the armpit are evidence of human aspects, just like the solemn way of moving forward is very human. The face is expressionless: not because he has none, like the automaton swimmers, but because it is under the water. Still he looks concentrated in carrying out his agonistic act in the most profitable way possible.
 
The absence of background is not meant to deprive the athlete of the support of the spectators and the natural elements (sky, trees), like it is in the case of the isolated swimmer-automaton devoid of ideals. Instead the purpose here is to frame the elegant and noble execution of the athletic act, thus facilitating a direct relationship between the observer and the athlete-man represented.
 
Technically, the photograph shows a very successful counterlight in which the arm emerges from the typical black tones of the silhouette to take on the shades of the colour of the flesh. This contributes to the humanization of the figure represented. The absence of other athletes in the scene helps us to consider the protagonist as a real man who measures himself against the fact of crossing his own loneliness and external constrictions. These are represented by the lanes which want to funnel his existence, as in the upper part of the photograph Falsa linea d'arrivo [False Finishing Line].
 
Stefano Nicolini (July 2010) 
 

 
  
 
  
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