Toni Spagone

Born in Turin (Italy) in 1961, Toni Spagone started taking photographs in 1974 at a very young age and eventually took photography up as a profession in 1979, working initially as a photoreporter for an agency and later in a photography studio.

As a freelance photographer he focused his work on Travel and Nature and his photographs were published by numerous magazines in the 1980s.

The great critic Giuseppe Turroni wrote in reference to Spagone‘s reportage on elderly people: “The colour in Spagone‘s work is a vision of limpid linearity. The backlighting strengthens the figures grouped together in an apparently imaginary conversation, far from anything even remotely metaphisical. Metaphysics incidently, is not something we would readily associate with the elderly, in that such intellectualistic speculation has little to do with their “forma mentis”, which is fortunately focused on firmer ground and does not only perceive any eventual metaphors, but above all sees the intrinsic substance – a concreteness that expresses rather than suggests, that declares rather than intimates.” And again, on a reportage about rugby he wrote: “Spagone‘s photographic compositions reflect a taste for the Expressionists and Pop-art, but also new-Dada. The clash of man against man and the physical violence inherent in this sport are rendered as an effective explosion of colours and forms: it is not simply a matter of the almost commonplace “unusual” representation of figures, but rather an extremely synthetic “cut” which embraces that visual casuality so often typical in this type of shot.”

In 1987 Toni Spagone participated in Turin‘s 1st Biennial Exhibition of Photography and published his first book on the city of Turin, with sponsorship by the city‘s Chamber of Commerce in concomitance with its renewed logo. As well as publishing his reportages in the most important magazines, he also taught models the photographic pose for a period at an Institute in Milan. In 1992, together with Rossella Barresi, he founded Realy Easy Star, an agency which distributes the work of various photogaphers to cater for a wide variety of publishing needs.

Toni Spagone has been a member of the Association of Journalists since 1997. Since then, he has been concentrating his efforts predominantly on Italy - photographing landscapes, architecture, food and humanity - and has created an archive of over one hundred thousand images on his specialist subject. However, he is also continuing his research into new creative solutions using digital technology. Today, Toni Spagone‘s images are published by the most important national and international magazines; he is also the author and co-author of several photographic books and is currently working on a project about Italian architecture.

Rossella Barresi

Rossella Barresi was born in Turin in 1968. Nurturing her great passion for the arts, she eventually met Toni Spagone whilst frequenting the city&lsquot;s art circles.

Initially she began by promoting the work of Toni Spagone, but very soon other photographers joined.

In 1992, together with Toni Spagone, she decided to create Realy Easy Star and took on the main role in running the Agency.

As well as managing the archive, she also collaborates with the most important publishers in Italy and in some cases covers the entire role of picture researcher on their behalf. She also manages relations with external photogaphers and follows the administrative work of the Agency.