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Creative Minds

Creative Mind: Robert Polidori

The Canadian American photographer has a gift for finding hidden stories in stillness, including in the ancient frescoes of Pompeii

By Jacqueline Terrebonne
Ancient fresco depicting people in a vibrant interior, with detailed patterns and checkered floor in an archaeological site.
Villa dei Misteri #1, Pompeii, Italia (2017) by Robert Polidori. Photo: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND KASMIN

Robert Polidori can capture the passage of both millennia and moments with just a click of his camera. Most widely recognized for his Versailles series, which has documented four decades of restoration of the famed palace, the Canadian American photographer has a gift for finding hidden stories in stillness such as in the decaying buildings of Havana and the haunting destruction in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

He chooses his far-flung subjects “by falling in love with them for various reasons,” he says. Having “spent the better part of 40 years on the road,” Polidori has used this time during COVID-19 for “reviewing and putting order through my work and by this process attempting to understand what it was that I lived through and trying to understand some unity of it all.”

Man in a beige blazer and white shirt standing in a sunlit hallway with checkered floors.
Robert Polidori. Photo: PETER KEYSER, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND KASMIN
Art gallery interior showcasing colorful paintings on gray walls with a wooden floor and track lighting above.
“Total Gnosis Enigma,” by Roberto Polidori at Kasmin. Photo: Courtesy of Kasmin
Art gallery with modern paintings on blue-grey walls and wooden floor, featuring vibrant abstract and architectural scenes.
“Total Gnosis Enigma,” by Roberto Polidori at Kasmin. Photo: Courtesy of Kasmin

This spring, Kasmin gallery hosts the North American debut of his latest series: a study of the ancient frescoes of Pompeii. In his signature form, each image leaps off the wall, begging for exploration and examination far beyond its striking beauty.

Ancient Roman fresco in a stone-walled room with colorful painted figures and decorative borders.
Villa Poppaea Fresco, Oplontis, Torre Annunziata, Italia, 2017 Photo: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND KASMIN

Here to eternity: “I was taken by the fact that for paintings done nearly 2,000 years ago, the iconographic representational style in Pompeii seems so modern. The mythic subject matter is foreign to us, but the painterly style has an Art Deco look to it. Strangely enough, the faces of the figures look like people I could have seen somewhere last week.”

Ancient Roman fresco depicting a basket of figs and an upturned candelabrum in a vibrant and colorful interior setting.
‘A Basket of Figs’ wall detail, from Triclinium wall, Oplontis Villa of Poppea – Torre Annunziata, Italia, 2017 Photo: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND KASMIN
Ancient Roman fresco of Narcissus gazing at his reflection in the water, surrounded by ornate decorative elements
House of Lucretius, Detail #1, Pompeii, Italia, 2018 Photo: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND KASMIN

Artist’s viewpoint: “These frescoes have faded somewhat in 2,000 years. Seeing their images represented on film differed from what they looked like in my memory of them. I felt compelled to digitally restore them somewhat in order to make them be perceived correctly by a viewer.” kasmingallery.com 

Ancient fresco on a red wall depicting figures in various poses, located in a room with a checkerboard tile floor.
Villa dei Misteri #1, Pompeii, Italia (2017) by Robert Polidori. Photo: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND KASMIN

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A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2021 Spring Issue under the headline “Creative Minds.” Subscribe to the magazine.