Quindi torno (o rimango?) a me, al mio lavoro e a quello che sostanzialmente mi piace fare: giocare cercando strade diverse di espressione. Copro tutto, o per lo meno il più possibile, con questa meravigliosa sottile pellicola di alluminio adesivo, donando alle forme cotte e smaltate - a tutti gli effetti “complete” - una pelle visivamente piu dura e meno calda della maiolica “tanto amata”. Il lavoro procede, prendono forma un bosco ed il suo sottobosco, teste aliene, biciclette, (sto ricoprendo la mia nuova bici ma questa non è un’operazione concettuale, è semplicemente una nuova pelle invernale) gruppi modulari che egregiamente sosterrebbero la sfida di grandi spazi architettonici. Rimangono, però, alcuni dettagli che emergono dalla balugginante copertura. Sono segni ovali, concentrici, bicolori, che rompono la superficie a ricordare che sotto la pelle rimangono la struttura e l’anima cotta a forno.
I begin
with a little piece of metal. Then I add other squares and rectangles, I place
them one on top of the next until I obtain an effect similar to that of gold
leaf. But the material is less expensive, less noble, closer to the reality of
that which I aim to represent. Around a year ago I decided to give credence to
a sort of denial of the glassy ceramic surface and the enamel glazed effect
that I have always tried to avoid in my laboratory experiments, attempting
instead to trust myself to that which the market offers. Perhaps it is a denial
of the material which in itself constitutes a gate through which the
overwhelming majority of gallery owners and art dealers do not wish to pass. As
a consequence the crowd of collectors and potential collectors remains feeble
and uninterested to the eyes (and pockets) of the same aforementioned ladies
and gentlemen. And so I return to myself, to my work and to that which in
essence I like to do: to play with and to look for different forms of
expression. I cover everything, or at least as much as possible, with this
marvellous papery adhesive aluminium foil, giving a visibly stronger skin to
the fired and glazed pieces, rendering an effect less warm than that of the
well loved majolica (loved by whom?!) The work proceeds, and as it develops, a
forest and its respective understory take form. Alien heads, bicycles (I am
covering my new bike, thought this is not an artistic operation per se) groups
of panels which could easily meet the expectations of shiny new hotels...
Details remain that emerge from the haphazard application of the aluminium,
oval and concentric bicoloured patterns that break and interrupt to remind the
viewer that under the skin lies the structure and the fired soul of the piece
