Name: Roberto LEONE
Place of Birth: Florence, Italy
Date of Birth: October 12th, 1956

Foreign languages: English, French.

Education :
SCUOLE PIE FIORENTINE - Maturità Scientifica (1974)
UNIVERSITA' di FIRENZE - Economics (1974-1979)
ISTITUTO EUROPEO di DESIGN (Roma), Dipartimento di Fotografia - Corso di Tecnica e Linguaggio Video Fotografico (1990/1991)

BIPP (British Institute of Professional Photography) - Licensiate Member

Professional Experience:
LEONE HOME VIDEO S.a.s. Florence, Italy - Video Productions - Sole Proprietor and Director (1987-1995). Most prominent accounts:

• Barilla S.p.a. (Europe largest pasta producer)
• FiorentinaGas (Florence Public Gas company)
• Istituto Chimico Farmaceutico Militare (Military Chemical & Pharmaceutical Plant)
• Consorzio Vino Chianti ( Chianti Wine Consortium)

ROBERTO LEONE Photographer - While still occasionally involved as a director in documentary video productions, a more dedicated career in portrait and illustrative photography has been the main occupation since 1996. Relocating in London at the beginning of 2001 is part of a professional development plan.

Roberto Leone's photography can be summed up as portraying people and their life, in a whole variety of contexts.

In Markets & Merchants, his street vendors, performers and peddlers provide us with a colorful palette of characters, whose resulting "tableaux" can be in turn romantic, funny, dramatic or just simply fascinating for their account of a disappearing world. As a matter of fact, "Markets & Merchants" is not just a mere documentation of street life. Deep down it is a tribute to all the resourceful people that still find pride in doing something apparently simple yet unique, keeping small business and crafts alive in a world almost completely driven by fame, technology and profit.

Giorno di bucato (Laundry day) is a more subtle, almost intimate look at this truly universal rite that really goes beyond culture, class or religion. A common gesture depicting the human nature in one of its rare moments of relaxed intimacy. Personal pieces of one's existence exposed right there and then, exhibited right outside one's home as a flag to be proud of and not ashamed of! Some sort of absolute exhibitionism, intriguing and still completely naive. A real life kaleidoscope, improvised ribbons of a colorful domestic celebration, transmitting a sense of peace and hope, like a truce in this belligerent, harsh, frenzy world of today. Whether sociologically interesting or just plain funny, these pictures are meant to remind us of how life is simpler than we see it, with much more things in common than we think.

At first sight, The Writing on the Wall seems like a shocking departure from Roberto Leone's usual style. Gone is the romanticism, gone is the peaceful, serene atmosphere. Still, this is once again a study on people, their life and feelings. An unbiased, if somewhat sympathetic testimony of the malaise, the struggle or just the painful need for attention of an often misunderstood generation, through the dark humor and rebellious statements of its graffiti.

His distinctive style of naturally lit close-ups is displayed at its best in Sguardi, his portrait collection rich of evocative images captured with the ambience of the available light. Combining traditional camera technique with tasteful use of modern digital technologies, Roberto Leone never fails to deliver unique, artistic pictures, which still retain a strong contemporary feel.

October 2002