Impressed by the first human spaceflight, Johnny Moncada made a series of photographs dedicated to Yuri Gagarin in 1961. This was a joint project with the artist Gastone Novelli, who created remarkable graphic paintings whose space themes served as backgrounds for the photos. Another source of inspiration for Johnny Moncada was Italian futurist architecture, such as Pier Luigi Nervi’s Palazzo dello Sport. From 1962 to 1969, Johnny Moncada developed the image of the ‘futurist woman’, placing his models in avant-garde cosmic interiors that matched the work of the most fashionable stylists of the day thanks to the abundance of plastic, mirrors, aluminium, plexiglas, and artistically treated materials. He often shot models from below, which made them seem to float in the air or in a zero-gravity state. Johnny Moncada’s innovative ideas, embodied by the models of the great designer André Courrèges, got a hold on life and became international famous thanks to Stanley Kubrick’s movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

ZERO GRAVITY Exhibition view, MAMM

ZERO GRAVITY Exhibition view, MAMM