BIOTECHNICAL ADVANCEMENTS, THE EXPONENTIAL EVOLUTION OF KNOWLEDGE IN SCIENTIFIC FIELDS, THE MECHANISM OF GLOBALISATION, FUTURISTIC PROJECTIONS THAT DOMINATE THE EVERYDAY ALMOST FROM THE PRECISE MOMENT OF THEIR CONCEPTUALISATION; THESE ARE THE VERY THINGS THAT NURTURE THE DEEPLY ROOTED CONVICTION OF THE 'MAGNIFICENT PROGRESSIVE CAPABILITY' OF HUMANITY, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME INCITING AN ATAVISTIC CONCERN AND ILL-CONCEALED RESISTANCE (MORE ETHICAL THAN SCIENTIFIC) TO HUMAN INTERFERENCE WITH NATURE - INTERFERENCES WHICH, AS IN THE FABLE OF THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE, RUN THE RISK OF SPIRALLING OUT OF CONTROL, CREATING IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE OF EPIC PROPORTIONS. THEY ARE ISSUES WHICH HAVE ATTRACTED PROFUSE COMMENT IN RECENT TIMES, GIVING RISE TO MUCH HEATED DEBATE SURROUNDING THE UNREST OF THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE AND WHICH MANIFEST IN THE WAY IN WHICH WE VIEW AND INTERPRET THE SIGNIFICANCE OF OUR MODERN REALITY. FAUSTO SALVI, AN ARTIST OF BROAD CONCEPTUAL AND MATERIAL SENSITIVITY, TRANSLATES THESE IDEAS INTO CONCRETE TERMS BY WAY OF HIS EXPERIMENTATION WITH TRADITIONAL FORMS OF CERAMIC ART, EMPLOYING THESE FORMS IN SUCH A WAY AS TO GIVE HIS PIECES A VOICE THAT, WHILE HAVING ITS ORIGINS IN THE REALMS OF ANTIQUITY, IS INHERENTLY RELATED TO CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY. SALVI'S ARTISTIC JOURNEY HAS BEEN A LONG AND INTENSE ONE ENCOMPASSING BOTH THE CONGNITIVE AND EXPRESSIVE ASPECTS OF HIS NATURE, AND FROM WHICH THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A COMPLETE DEPARTURE FROM THE GIDDYING METABOLISM OF THE MODERN WORLD. BY TURNS GROTESQUE AND MONSTROUS, HIS WORKS BEAR TESTAMENT TO THE SEEMINGLY INESCAPABLE GENETIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE HUMAN RACE; SCULPTURES OF ROPES, GORDIAN KNOTS (WITH THEIR BASIS IN THE LEGEND OF PHRYGIAN GORDIUM - ASSOCIATED WITH ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND OFTEN USED AS A METAPHOR FOR AN INTRACTABLE PROBLEM SOLVED BY A BOLD STROKE), ROMANTICALLY BEATING HEARTS, METICULOUS SCULPTURAL DESCRIPTIONS OF WEAPONS, PROJECTILES AND MISSILES; HIS WORKS FORM AN ALMOST LINEAR CATALOGUE OF THE MONSTROSITY AND ABSURDITY OF WAR. IN THIS WAY, SALVI PROVIDES A RIGOROUS TESTIMONY OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION AND ITS ABILITY TO SERVE AS A TOOL BY WHICH TO CRITIQUE THE WORD IN WHICH WE LIVE, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME REMAINING FAITHFUL TO HIGHER AESTHETIC IDEALS. HIS WORKS ARE A VEHICLE BY WHICH TO CONVEY A PRECISE SET OF ETHICAL CHOICES AND IRONIES, A PARTICULAR SENSE OF TRAGEDY AND OF THE GROTESQUE, SHROUDED IN POP FORMATIONS AND CLOSELY TIED TO THE UNIQUE AND QUINTESSENTIAL LANGUAGE OF COMIC ILLUSTRATIONS. ORIENTING HIS WORKS ON THESE EXPERIENCES, SALVI AFFRONTS THE THEMES OF GENETIC MUTATIONS, HUMAN INTERVENTION UPON BIOLOGICAL STRUCTURES, UPON THE UNION OF LIFE AND TECHNOLOGY - ELABORATING FORMS FROM A PARALLEL 'OTHER' WORLD, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME SPECULATING ABOUT OUR OWN: A WORLD AT ONCE BOTH FUTURISTIC AND ARCHAIC IN WHICH THERE IS NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN NATURE BOTH ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE, BETWEEN HUMANITY AND CRUELTY. IN CONTRAST TO THE APPARENT ORDERLY DOMESTICITY OF EVERYDAY LIFE WHICH AT FIRST GLANCE SUGGEST THAT HIS WORKS ARE BUT VASES PLACED DISCREETLY UPON A MANTLE, SALVI ADDS AN ELEMENT OF LUXURIANT VEGETATION - IMPOSSIBLY FLORID AND COVERED WITH LIFELIKE BERRIES AND PODS, SOME COLOURED IN EXAGGERATED FASHION, OTHERS AS SHARP AS ARROWS. THE TECHNOLOGICAL NATURE OF THE METAPHORIC PHENOMENON IS THEN DISCREETLY REVEALED BY A TINY LED LIGHT, WHICH LIGHTS UP INTERMITTENTLY, AND (AS IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE) ILLUMINATES THE SECRET OF THE FORMS WHICH WRITHE AND KNOT IN SEARCH OF THEIR OWN SPACE AND THEIR OWN EXISTENTIAL SENSE. THE MONSTROSITY OF THESE FORMS, WHICH IS IN SUBSTANCE THEIR INDIVIDUALITY AS REGARDS THE ACQUIESCENT KNOWLEDGE OF EXPERIENCE, IS EXTRAORDINARILY FASCINATING INSOFAR AS THE ARTIST PUTS THEM TOGETHER WITH A WISE AND ALL-CONSUMING RHYTHM, WITH A FORMAL AND ELEGANT (IF APPARENTLY SPONTANEOUS) EQUILIBRIUM, IN A REFINED PURSUIT OF THE REALISATION OF SURFACES: FROM MARBLE WHITE 'CRAQUELURE' FINISH TO LUMINOUS GOLD AND COPPER, FROM BRIGHT AND DISARMING OCHRES TO UNSETTLING EYES PAINTED ON THE SURFACE OF MUSHROOM-LIKE PROTRUSIONS.
FAUSTO SALVI EVOKES FOR US A WORLD FREE OF HUMAN INTERFERENCE, PLACING THE ATTENTION INSTEAD UPON THE BIOLOGICAL WORLD, WHICH EVEN IN THE SIMPLICITY OF ITS SHAPES AND IN THE ELEMENTARY NATURE OF ITS PROCESSES, DENOUNCES THE MONSTROUS POSSIBILITIES OF INDIFFERENT TECHNOLOGICAL INTERVENTION (WITH RESPECT TO BIODIVERSITY ITSELF AND WITH RESPECT TO A PROFOUND ETHICAL SENSE) WHILE AT THE SAME TIME REVEALING THE UNSTOPPABLE FORCE OF LIFE WHICH FINDS, ABOVE AND BEYOND ALL ELSE, ITS OWN ROAD IN THE ELEMENTS UNTOUCHED BY THE FOLLIES OF CONTEMPORARY HUMANITY.