おじいちゃん is watching TV is a quirky costume play by two of Venice Carnevale's biggest names in costumes - the siblings Anna and Lorenzo Marconi. Veterans at the Venice Carnevale, they are well known for making the most photogenic costumes. They are doll makers by trade so they have their very doll and furniture shop in Senigalia, Italy. Some of their costumes have been made into movies. And of course (as mentioned last year in one of my earlier blog post), they even have their very own book about all the wonderful costumes they made for the Venice Carnevale.
The costumes are based on lo show del sabato sera (The Saturday Night Show).
The costumes are a tribute to 100 years of radio and 70 years since the first television broadcast. The costume aims to tell the most ephemeral side of TV: the Saturday night show. A Brionvega television from the 1970s is worn as headgear. The work inspired by a famous stage dress from "Canzonissima71", covered in colorful and glittering sequins, takes us back to the glittering prime time live broadcasts of the 70s and 80s with Mina, Raffaella Carrà and Heather Parisi.
My inspiration for the photo comes from the 1992 hit song by Japanese icon Noriko Sakai.
I spend quite a lot of time in Japan nowadays, so a lot of my pictures are starting to get a little bit of Japanese influence here and there, but I think it works well. In case one haven't noticed, I like to give my photos some Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese titles.
This is one of my favourite set of photos this year.
The Venice Carnevale is not all about masks, many local Italians prefer painted faces and/ or historical costumes.
For many artists, as we grow in our trade, we tend to follow more of our own styles, rather than bending to what's most common and what other people prefer. We tend to be more matured, to have a more distinct style of our own, and to be less bothered with what others have to say...