Gianni Colosimo's friendship with Claudio Abate

Gianni Colosimo recounts his friendship with photographer Claudio Abate, whom he met in 2008 through Susana Serpas, a former student and partner of Abate. Colosimo commissioned Abate to photograph his installation "0,76 – Senza scarpe in un baratro di errori" at Galleria Motelsalieri in Rome. Abate later photographed Colosimo's year-long magazine exhibition "Il silenzio incestuoso della mia ombra ferita" (2009-2010) on Exibart, Nero, Mousse, and Artforum. For the third work, Abate shot Colosimo standing on a 1960s Opel Captain hearse at sunset in Fregene on November 20, 2009, assisted by Rodolfo Fiorenza and Susana Serpas. The hearse, purchased from Fabrizio Nicastro's uncle in Sutera, Sicily, got stuck in sand but was freed by a jeep. In July 2011, Abate documented Colosimo's exhibition "L'Art Contemporaine raconté aux enfants" at Centre Pompidou-Metz, including a performance with seven ponies honoring Jannis Kounellis's 1969 installation. Colosimo and Abate planned a joint exhibition but never executed it.