The paradox of photography as practised by Alessio Boni is that it emphasises the manual labour that makes an image rather than the immediacy the rest of the medium, from digital to disposable, can’t stop bragging about. At the turn of the last century painters railed, briefly, about the mechanical immediacy of the photograph as opposed to the subjective sweat of painting. A hundred years on, the photographers have switched sides. Now they go to great lengths to explain the processes behind their images. Set design, styling, hair and make-up: the catering, practically. All of it contributes to the moment on film, and the ironic, slightly unfashionable secret is that the real work happens before the shutter closes, when there is nothing yet to photograph.
Which is where Boni gets interesting, and faintly ridiculous, in the best way. Boni prints fragments from his archive, iPhone snaps and public-domain records onto plain office paper, drowns the sheets in shallow trays of water spiked with raw pigment, ink and paint, and photographs the dissolving mess under open sunlight on a 35mm camera. The man shot Versace and Miu Miu for seventeen years; he now makes art by leaving printer paper out in the puddles. “It doesn’t get more real than that,” he says, and the thing is – he means it.
He may even be right. Walter Benjamin fretted that mechanical reproduction would bleed the artwork of its aura; Boni’s answer is to put the aura back by hand, one soggy negative at a time (Benjamin 1935). The wonder is that the gambit works at all, that something this fussy and this chancy yields pictures of real strange beauty. The apex of the whole process still occurs in that interaction between photographer and subject, the timing, the anticipating: a split second built from days, sometimes weeks, of preparation before the scene so much as shows up. Boni has explored all facets of that process, and his show at Robert Stilin Shop is a declaration of where the artist now stands.
The results sit between the figurative and the abstract, grainy, dissolving, half-drowned and somehow more alive for it. Boni calls the series an “apocalyptic clash of cultures” (Boni, quoted in Robert Stilin 2026), which is either profound or a stretch, and on a good wall you stop caring which. A second of looking, it turns out, can hold a great deal of violent detail.
Exhibition Notes: ALESSIO BONI
On View from June 11, 2026
1133 Broadway, Suite 623, New York, NY 10010
Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM (Walk-ins & Appointments Welcome)
Robert Stilin is pleased to announce an exhibition of work by photographer Alessio Boni, on view at Robert Stilin Shop from June 11, 2026. This marks the gallery’s second exhibition, as well as Boni’s most significant presentation in New York since his relocation to Paris.
Boni’s practice has evolved into a rigorous, experimental multimedia path that mediates between the digital and the analog. Moving away from the post-production heavy workflows of contemporary fashion photography, Boni has developed a “hand-made” technology that reintegrates physical chance and materiality into the photographic act.
The works in this exhibition, comprising a curated selection of new, archival, and multimedia photographs, emerge from a meticulous, multi-stage process. Sourcing imagery from his personal archive, iPhone snapshots, and public domain records, Boni prints these initial fragments on utilitarian office paper. These prints are then submerged in shallow trays of water, where Boni introduces raw pigments, ink, and paint. The final image is captured under natural sunlight using a 35mm film camera, resulting in a traditional analog photograph. As Boni notes, “I wanted to do something where I could use my hands more… the final product is a real analog film photograph. It doesn’t get more real than that.”
In this series of highly personal works, Boni explores what he describes as an “apocalyptic clash of cultures.” The interplay of sunlight and water creates a dreamlike, mesmerizing atmosphere, producing images that lie in the immersive space between the figurative and the abstract. The visible grain of the 35mm film reinforces the tactile, “classic” quality of the work, inviting the viewer into a universe of memory and physical sensation.
About the Artist
Alessio Boni (b. 1982) is an Italian-born photographer currently living and working in Paris. Prior to his relocation, he spent seventeen years in New York establishing a prominent career as a fashion photographer. During this time, he developed a sophisticated visual language while shooting for leading international brands, including Miu Miu, Versace, and Jean-Paul Gaultier, and for acclaimed publications such as Vogue, Interview Magazine, and the Financial Times.
Boni has exhibited his work across Europe and the United States. His recent exhibitions include the 2025 group show Bodies and Souls, curated by Pierre Mollfulleda and Julien Heron in Paris; the 2024 group exhibition Antinomies at Maison Victor Hugo, Paris; and a series of 2023 shows, including the solo exhibition
The Ache of Being in Paris and at Serene Gallery in Lugano, the group exhibition If we could fall asleep at Spazio Colla Super in Milan, and the solo exhibition and brand collaboration Alessio Boni x Viso Project in Brooklyn.
Additionally, in 2022, he participated in the group exhibition Exposition Collective Libre N.3 at 3537, the space initiated by Comme des Garçons and Dover Street Market in Paris.
About Robert Stilin
Robert Stilin is an acclaimed New York and Hamptons-based interior designer known for creating exceptionally sophisticated residential and commercial interiors globally. For over 25 years, his studio has executed bespoke, high-profile commissions spanning custom townhouses and lofts in New York City to expansive private residences in South Florida, the Hamptons, Connecticut, Seattle, and Bel Air. His practice is celebrated for its architectural precision, balancing clean lines with a curated, layered mix of 20th-century vintage furnishings and museum-quality fine art. Stilin is a perennial member of Architectural Digest’s AD100 list and Elle Decor’s A-List.
His work is documented in two monographs published by Vendome Press: Robert Stilin: Interiors (2019) and Robert Stilin: New Work (2025). An active art collector, he serves on the Artists Council at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Leadership Council of the Dia Art Foundation.
About Robert Stilin Shop
Robert Stilin Shop is a gallery and curated space founded by Robert Stilin. Intentionally staged as an immersive interior rather than a traditional retail setting, the space allows visitors to experience firsthand the layered, collected sensibility that defines Stilin’s work. Vintage furniture, lighting, and objects, sourced personally from around the globe by Stilin, are presented alongside a line of custom-designed furniture developed over years of residential commissions, as well as rotating collaborations with contemporary artists and designers. Each element shares a common sensibility: a strong presence, a tactile materiality, and an ease that prioritizes livability over spectacle.
Located in the Flatiron-situated St. James Building, long home to New York’s interior design community, the gallery is conceived as a meeting point for the art and design worlds. It is intended as a place to return to: to see new work, engage with peers, and experience a point of view that feels thoughtful, lived-in, and distinctly Stilin’s. Through rotating presentations and exhibitions, historical and contemporary works are placed in conversation, allowing the space to shift and develop organically over time, embodying Stilin’s ongoing dialogue with both the art and design worlds.
Images courtesy of the artist and Robert Stilin © Alessio Boni
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle
