In the Nursery Fabbri the upside-down tree, placed in an imaginary location, grows in a dimension where there is no space or time. “It gets its nutrition from the sky”, explains the artist, “and its roots subside into the Platonic realm and draw their lifeblood directly from the world of ideas. These ideas are unchanging, perfect and achieved only through great wisdom”.
The nursery is a theatrical backdrop with two open sides, built in a studio, which features a cherry tree branch. It is the first time that Canini has used a theatrical backdrop to create an image, thus exploring all the illusory potential of photography. The interaction of the two-dimensional space of the image, and the three-dimensional space which precedes the photograph, make it a pleasure to look at. We can think of the three-dimensional models of Thomas Demand, but Canini’s work is full of imagination, rather than a detailed scale reproduction. It also recalls the images by James Casebere, the creator of complex tableau paintings, but Silvio’s approach is playful, and leads us into a surreal and ironic context.
The photographer’s talent is based on his ability to hint at a story, perhaps a fairytale, which does not exist outside the set he created in the studio. On the other hand, any photograph is always constructed in some way (whether it is expected, provoked or posed). Canini starts with an idea and objectifies his intentions through his clever use of the medium, constructing the illusion of a glance into a fairytale world.