Acroterion, 2022, 295 x 200 x 60 cm, Fiberglass, recycled styrofoam, polyurethane resin, copper, iron & coldpatine
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Anfora, 2022, 122 x 292 x 60 cm, Fiberglass, recycled styrofoam, polyurethane resin, natural pigments & Carrara marble dust
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Ponder Peace at Isola di Pace embodies a visual and thematic language I have been constructing in my art practice over the past five years. My hope for the installation was for it to appear as an undiscovered archaeological site or sacred gathering place. Visitors stumble on sculptural forms scattered across a young forest framing the surrounding landscape. Stemming from culturally symbolic objects and architectural motifs, the disparate aesthetics of the sculptures is timeless and playful, linking the classical, industrial and ethereal.
My interest in contrasting industrial and classical aesthetics is rooted in early experiences growing up in Rome and visiting the Centrale Montemartini Museum. The Museum, once a thermoelectric power plant, is famous for its unusual curatorial pairing of classical Roman statuary and decommissioned industrial machinery. Centrale Montemartini’s permanent exhibition titled The Machines and the Gods has been a major reference point in my work, and the aesthetic intersection of classical and industrial has been a constant feature in my practice. Ponder Peace at Isola di Pace commingles the industrial and classical with the ethereal, creating an other-worldly archeology.
Anvil 2022, 95 x 130 x 30 cm, Fiberglass, recycled styrofoam, polyurethane resin, bronze & coldpatine
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Baroque Pearl, 2022, 68 x 70 x 65 cm, Fiberglass, recycled styrofoam, polyurethane resin & mother of pearl dust
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Central to my practice is the idea of social sculpture - the work, the viewer and the environment all form a constructed cohesive whole. As a native digital, I see social sculpture as a necessary offset to the ongoing dematerialization of art and culture. Although I am an avid and active participant of online life, my primary focus as an artist is to create immersive art experiences that momentarily take people away from their screens. For that reason, the true scope of Ponder Peace was to set a stage with which to bring viewers outside to appreciate and explore the sculptural quality of nature and immerse themselves in the astonishing Umbrian landscape.
I am very concerned with the quantity of waste, obsolete objects and pollution we as a planet produce. Therefore, I choose to primarily work with reclaimed and recycled materials, taking on the challenge of transforming and masking them. The Ponder Peace project was a very exciting opportunity to play with material illusion - industrial styrofoam is transformed into oxidized bronze, iridescent pearl, weathered copper and petrified stone. The styrofoam used to fabricate Ponder Peace was a waste material from the construction of Podere Calzone’s bespoke wine tasting room La Tana. The arches in La Tana are made from reinforced concrete and the giant styrofoam forms acted as a “negative” mold in the concrete casting process.
La Tana’s fabrication was an additive process, materials were poured and stacked to create a modern architectural marvel. The sculptural intervention was a subtractive one, the styrofoam was carved, cut and molded into 10 sculptures, each with a dramatic silhouette and unique patina or surface finish.
Medusa, 2022, 40 x 40 x 12 cm, Fiberglass, recycled styrofoam, polyurethane resin, brass, bronze & coldpatine
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Gemelli, 2022, 30 x 37 x 16 cm, Fiberglass, recycled styrofoam, polyurethane resin, bronze & coldpatine
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Artemisia 2022, 295 x 75 x 30 cm, Fiberglass, recycled styrofoam, polyurethane resin, natural pigments bronze, mica & coldpatine
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