Sales & auctions questions? Contact Our Advisory Team General questions & feedback? Contact [email protected] Send us feedback COLLECTING Collecting on Artsy Collecting Resources About Artsy Auctions EDUCATION Education The Art Genome Project ABOUT ARTSY About Jobs Open Source Galleries A–Z Museums A–Z PARTNERING & PRESS Artsy for Galleries Artsy for Institutions (PDF) Press ! © 2015 Artsy Terms of Use Privacy Policy Security "#$ ARTISTS MENTIONED IN POST FEATURED POSTS ARTSY EDITORIAL 20,022 Followers New York, NY, United States FOLLOW FEATURED BY ARTSY In a Clever Series of Self- Portraits, Argentine Photographer Romina Ressia Reimagines the Renaissance ARTSY EDITORIAL A FEW SECONDS AGO The works of 33-year-old Argentine photographer Romina Ressia have recently become an internet sensation. She took an unconventional path into the art world, studying finance and then set design, before producing the stylish and thought-provoking photo series that she’s now known for. One series, “How would have been?,” is comprised of striking, often humorous images that pose unexpected anachronisms. Ressia’s objectives are clear in the title, and in the works themselves: in some of these photographs she reimagines classical 15th-century portraiture, casting herself as the subject and inserting tangible objects from contemporary life into the frame, like microwave popcorn or bubblegum. In other pieces, the message is subtler, the scene devoid of any trappings of the 21st century. In Woman With Flowers (2014) and Oval Portrait (2014), for example, Ressia holds conventional poses—if these weren’t crisp archival pigment prints, they could almost be mistaken for images actually captured in the Renaissance era. The message comes through in the expressions of the artist herself. At turns, she looks pained, bored, or even blank—see Boring (2014)—and we can visualize what daily life was like for young women of means centuries ago. The series raises two parallel questions: what would life have been like so many years ago if modern diversions had existed then? And, conversely, what would life be like for a modern woman within the confines and traditional expectations of the 15th century? Ressia is refreshingly unpretentious about her process. “I think that the camera is just a tool,” she has said . “A good photographer can make a piece of art only with a plastic camera or even with his mobile…the eye [is] what really matters.” Since leaving the finance world to pursue art, Ressia has also earned attention for her series “What Do You Hide?” (2015) in which she “dehumanizes” her feminine subjects in the colorful camouflage of printed and patterned fabrics, and for her series “Not About Death” (2014) in which she frames her elderly subjects, clad in superhero costumes, lying in coffins. Another series, “Renaissance Cubism,” is a playful mash-up of Renaissance portraiture and Cubism. Picking up on a theatrical edge? It’s no wonder: Ressia studied art direction and set design at the famous Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. —Bridget Gleeson Discover more artists at Arcadia Contemporary Discover more artists at Arcadia Contemporary .. "Popcorn", 2014 SOLD "Boring" , 2014 Double Bubble Gum, 2015 "Woman With Flowers" , 2014 "Oval Portrait" , 2014 "Black Box" , 2014 "Skull" , 2014 #"% Romina Ressia ARCADIA CONTEMPORARY SOLD Romina Ressia ARCADIA CONTEMPORARY CONTACT GALLERY Romina Ressia ARCADIA CONTEMPORARY CONTACT GALLERY Romina Ressia ARCADIA CONTEMPORARY CONTACT GALLERY Romina Ressia ARCADIA CONTEMPORARY CONTACT GALLERY Romina Ressia ARCADIA CONTEMPORARY CONTACT GALLERY Romina Ressia ARCADIA CONTEMPORARY CONTACT GALLERY ROMINA RESSIA The Rise of Ye Yongqing in Chinese Contemporary Art ARTSY EDITORIAL Opening Tonight in New York DAILY DIGEST: TOP ART NEWS Long Overlooked New York School Painter Edith Schloss Rediscovered at Sundaram Tagore ARTSY EDITORIAL Photographer Nao Tsuda Captures Breathtaking Landscapes at the Edge of the Earth ARTSY EDITORIAL My Highlights from PULSE New York 2015 LILIANA CAVENDISH From MoMA to Dia, Must-See Museum Exhibitions During Armory Arts Week 2015 ARTSY EDITORIAL February 25, 2015: ISIS Sells Stolen Artifacts in UK & a Museum Guard Removes a Piece of Oscar Murillo’s Madrid Installation DAILY DIGEST: TOP ART NEWS Leonardo Drew Challenges Himself and the Traditions of Printmaking ARTSY EDITORIAL Exciting Solo Presentations Put ADAA in the Spotlight This Armory Week ARTSY EDITORIAL 5 Female Artists Breaking the Glass Ceiling at ADAA REBECCA BRONFEIN RAPHAEL ! & Search… BROWSE ARTISTS GALLERIES FAIRS AUCTIONS POSTS EDUCATION ABOUT LOG IN SIGN UP