Gianluca Galtrucco

UFOs, strange machinery, astronauts in a diner: in this volume, LA-based Italian photographer Gianluca Galtrucco (born 1971) brings a cinematic surrealism to his portraits of astronautical props and imagery.

Like no other city in the world, Los Angeles encourages the observer to play with illusions—and to be played with in turn. At every street corner one wonders if one is still in ordinary life, has stepped onto a movie set or entered a heat-induced mirage. Wandering as far afield as Nevada and Mexico, Los Angeles–based Italian photographer Gianluca Galtrucco (born 1971) discovers comedic and dramatic images throughout LA and its region that blur the boundary between reality and artifice. Sometimes titling his works to allude to the world of cinema, Galtrucco underscores how thoroughly Los Angeles has been shaped by its best-known industry—and how much movies shape our view of the city in turn. In this volume, Galtrucco is as much a showman as a lensman, urging us to suspend disbelief and to trust his imagery.