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In another life, Anthony Boccaccio must have been a Renaissance painter. His use of light, shadow and the human form take us back to a time when the celebration of the body was the challenge accepted by great artists from Michelangelo to Titian. Indeed, much of the inspiration for the nudes in this collection came from the great masterpieces of Italian painting, frescos and sculptures he saw daily while living in Rome, Italy.
The sensual for Boccaccio is more interesting visually than the erotic. Though no one could deny that this collection of beautiful bodies calls forth a certain erotic tone, it is an echo of innocence and purity. There is an Ideal at work in his photography, and although most of his models do not posses the ideal body (whatever that is!) Boccaccio is quick to say that the body is not important in itself but only as it points to and reflects the beauty and mystery hidden beneath the form.
As beautiful, strong and graceful as they may be, the nudes in this extraordinary collection are not so much showing off their bodies as they are saying to us, the viewer "Don't look at my body, look at my beauty, my grace, my magnificence and remember that we are all made from dust star dust in the likeness God."
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