John O'Reilly
It is as if the montage has become a mirror reflecting the past onto the viewer present


Simona Vendrame: Death, sensuality, and religious enthusiasm are the most characteristic themes of your photographic montages. They are always small and in them, apart from your own image, you make use of classical paintings, antique Greek busts, reproduction from books on art history as well as subjects from porno magazines.

And what’s more there is always a Catholic religious feeling together with an aggressive and disruptive impulse. Could it be that these works are cathartic for you? Or do they have a meaning that goes beyond your own personal sphere?

John O’Reilly: The work for me is about attempting to establish a presence. That presence is my presence. When I first started making the Polaroid montages, they didn’t seem to belong to me unless I appeared on them. As the work developed over time, the style of working – cutting, sanding, pasting – my touch, became my presence…




Simona Vendrame