Would You Trust These Renaissance Mechanics With Your Car?

Photography by Freddy Fabris

Modern mechanics as Renaissance art? This is the challenge that commercial photographer Freddy Fabris set for himself with “The Renaissance Series”. Perhaps Da Vinci and his peers had it easy: a painter is able to omit, adapt, and change forms as necessary. But with photography, it takes a true expert to compose, capture, and retouch in such a way that honors both past masters and current technology.

This is why Fabris has won awards for this series, and it’s difficult to not get sucked into each scene, noticing new details each time—like the hubcap “halo” in “The Last Supper”. Thanks to a chance encounter with a repair shop, Fabris was inspired to apply all of his skills to the most humble of tasks: fixing cars. It’s a far cry from the nobility Renaissance painters often captured, but the series is so compelling that I’ve been imagining what, say, Rembrandt’s take on car mechanics would have looked like. What do you think?

The Renaissance Series: The Last Supper by Freddy Fabris
One Eyeland Silver award (Pictured above)

The Renaissance Series: The Anatomy Lesson by Freddy Fabris
APA Conceptual award, One Eyeland Silver award

The Renaissance Series: The Creation of Adam by Freddy Fabris
First place, International Color Awards, One Eyeland Silver award