OLIVIERO TOSCANI KEEPS ON FIGHTING HYPOCRISY / WDCD2011

Without some decent controversy, there is no point to making art. This is what speaks from Oliviero Toscani’s lengthy track record of provocative photography. Toscani is probably best known for his radical ad campaigns for Benetton in the 1990s, showing images of real life tragedy instead of fashion items.

Toscani studied photography at the Academy of Arts in Zurich, initially focussing on photojournalism, but his talent was soon spotted by the fashion industry. He created images and worked on campaigns for numerous brands, from Valentino to Chanel and Fiorucci. But for Toscani his work is not really about fashion. It is much more about creating documents about social behaviour and the human condition in general.

Toscani is widely acclaimed and has won many awards, including four Lions d’Or in Cannes. His work featured at the Venice Biennale in 1993. In that same year Toscani founded Fabrica, the renowned international centre for arts and communication research. For Toscani a head-on confrontation with hypocrisy and values is the only way of moving things forward. That is why he continues to create images that cause a stir: ‘The scale of values has to be destroyed and matters raised for discussion, uninterrupted.’