Benrubi Gallery is pleased to announce an ONLINE exhibition of new work by Massimo Vitali. As the COVID-19 pandemic rendered most public space around the world off limits, Vitali headed back to the beaches he has for so long documented. Since the end of the lockdowns in Italy, "the new normal" has become the go-to term to describe the reality of a world hit by COVID-19. It is a "new" way of living, full of precautions, hygiene measures and habits that seem to have changed our behavior, and eroded the sociability and proximity that characterize the human race. Massimo Vitali went to the beach once more, to observe the new normal. The densely populated environment—one of his favorite subjects—once more proved to be curiously normal.
The urge to be out in the open air, seeing friends, making the most of the sea and sun, diving into the water and leaving behind the worries of the week: all that is still there. A few masks, some nifty footwork to avoid strangers and maintain social distancing, and a mostly Italian rather than international population form the backdrop to these images. Nonetheless, those elements are not what first catches the viewer's eye. Just as the week's worries are left behind, this new normal that everyone is talking about did not make it to the beach. Instead, a sort of collective ritual of rebirth occurred, with the sea and sun seeming to repel the virus that has been mysteriously shadowing us for several months.
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