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RON AMATO SEEKING THE SOUL


by joel martens Ron Amato was born and raised in Brooklyn and still lives there. He


has become one of the rarities of that world of imports. Another rarity? His photographs are powerful and really speak for themselves, he is one of those rare artists, who needs little explanation about interpreting his works. Like classic sculpture, his male images beg you to examine them: Beautiful, sensual, powerful and yet like those classic sculptures of antiquity, oddly chaste.


This is his story.


When did you first start taking photos, or catch the photo bug, if you will? You know, I don’t remember how it started exactly. My father had a lot


of little cameras around, little Kodaks and Polaroid cameras. I must have been making photos with them, because my parents bought me this kind of kit, everything was plastic, it was what we used to call an instamatic camera. They don’t call them that any more, but it had a little instamatic camera, a little plastic enlarger, these tiny, little chemistry trays, a whole boxed kit. It was like, “Here, you’re a photographer now.” I joined the camera club around sixth grade, which was together for a


very short time, like one academic year. I made color prints there, not a lot, but with the guidance of the faculty member who ran the club. I always enjoyed it and throughout high school I made photographs, but never really thought of it as a career. My father was an accountant and I came from a family where the arts were not really something prevalent in the household and it definitely was not something thought of as a viable career option.


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RAGE monthly | MARCH 2017


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