* The following text is an excerpt from an interview made in 2016. The original version is published in PANORAMA (DIORAMA editions).
Galleria Opulenza is a collective composed by Carlo Banfi (Milan, 1991), Alessandro Garbin (Conegliano, 1991), Pietro Fareri (Milan, 1991), Dali Geralle (Milan, 1994), Yuri Kaban (Milan, 1992), Domenico Nicoletti (Sapri, 1993), Davide Renoldi (Milan, 1991), Andrea Rosso (Venice, 1992) and Alice Zani (Reggio Emilia, 1992). Their projects have been exhibited at SPRINT and WOK (Milan). They collaborated with IUTER, Missoni, Nike, Pop Up Press, Ptwschool, Redbull, United Standard, Valentino, Vice and WOK Store.
How was Galleria Opulenza born?
It can be said, it is nothing more than the living room of an ordinary two-room apartment in the South of Milan. Cippo and Buzzi were the only ones offsite during university, inevitably that couch (wickerwork, extremely uncomfortable) became the HQ of the whole clique. The logo was designed teasingly, a twig and a ring. So the Facebook page was opened, as a joke, we proposed ourselves as an art gallery located in Parco della Vittoria. The gag puzzled everyone, but we continued to receive likes. We realized that we were also good at what we did, without people guessing what we were doing, so that logo became our signature. Most of the times we even forget to post our works, so I opened the Instagram page. We followed many chicks, they replicated well, since then we never stopped.
Who are its members, and what do you do individually?
The answer would be too long and it would also be boring. I can tell you that we even have a curator whose only responsibility is to smoke, a communications department which makes the social media things, a graphic department, an IT and many friends.
Some of the common denominators seem to be photography and graphics, such as zines, flyers, graffiti, tattoos.
To call them denominators is a bit pretentious, it sounds like something reasoned. It is nothing more than our elaboration of what we grew up with, the bullshit we talk about in the street, the things we watch on the computer. Despite the fact that we grew up in different provinces, in opposite environments, we share the same influences. Although we often disagree on the things we like.
And besides that, what else is there that influences you, that you like, that you would like to do in the future?
I have to admit, it’s hard for me to foresee this. It is not meant as just another feel-good response when we say that things have to develop in a natural and genuine way, the thing is that a lot of our projects are born at random. Kind of: even we didn’t expect it. So I cannot tell you about the future, once we said we would have opened a modelling agency, indeed, we are all both talented and beautiful.
One might call you a collective, but rather more than working on shared projects, you tend to develop your works individually, interacting, supporting each other instead of doing things that bear a unique, two-dimensional signature.
You’re right, this is perhaps the true strength of G. Op. Each of us is good in one field: who with what is going on in 3D, who with photography, who with vector graphics and who can only hold these things together, which is what I do. We have the features of a virtual agency, in the creative process everyone contributes to build the thing together. Everyone makes his own cool thing, and then it is presented as a whole. Each of our works bears the signature of Galleria Opulenza, not even so small compared to the author’s name, it is something that we all feel is ours.
To date, which are – in your opinion – the most interesting realities in Milan?
In Milan there are indeed many good people, everybody tells them and they know it too.