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The medium is the message

The medium is the message | Il mezzo è il messaggio
2024, Carrara marble and steel
100 x 50 x 30cm

These sculptures were made during the Cammino Contemporaneo, Via di Francesco residency and are permanently installed in the town of Lugnola, behind the church of San Cassiano on the border of Lazio & Umbria in Italy. 📍Location

Marble serves as a portal into geological time, formed long before humanity ever existed. Two spirals rise as symbols of continuity and eternity, evoking a bygone classical era.

This idea materializes in a sculpture where the marble spirals blend with an industrial base crafted from recycled steel beams, salvaged from a Tuscan residential building. These beams, still bearing the original marks of their industrial history in Piombino, create a dialogue between past and present.

In this context, the spirals resemble eyes gazing over the landscape, inviting us to perceive the scenery as a fleeting moment within the vast expanse of Earth’s history. While our lives are brief, marble endures for millions of years, offering us a rare and almost unfathomable perspective on the scale of geological time.

(ITA)

Il marmo è un portale nel tempo geologico, formatosi molto prima che l’umanità evolvesse. Due spirali si ergono come simboli di continuità ed eternità, richiamando l’era classica ormai passata.

Questa idea prende forma in un’opera scultorea, dove le spirali di marmo si fondono con una base industriale realizzata con travi d’acciaio riciclato, provenienti da un edificio residenziale toscano. Le travi portano ancora i segni originali della loro storia industriale di Piombino, creando un dialogo tra il passato e il presente.

In questo contesto, le spirali assumono la forma di occhi che scrutano il paesaggio, invitandoci a vedere il panorama circostante come un momento effimero nella vastità della storia terrestre. Mentre le nostre vite sono brevi, il marmo sopravvive per milioni di anni, offrendoci uno sguardo raro e quasi incomprensibile sulla scala del tempo geologico.

Lithic Cyborg

2024, hand carved Macael & Carrara marble
50 x 25 x 15cm

Lithic Cyborg is composed of two distinct parts: at its crown, a raw and free-form depiction of female collarbones reinterprets the classical bust by focusing solely on the neck and upper chest. This sculpted element, crafted from Macael marble, intentionally contrasts with the base of the sculpture, which redefines the concept of a plinth. Sculpted from Carrara marble, the base boasts a polished, refined finish that surpasses the sculpture above in material sophistication. This inversion of traditional roles challenges conventional notions of sculpture and its pedestal.

The inspiration for Lithic Cyborg emerged from my fascination with the body becoming landscape and vice versa, a theme explored throughout the Dark Optimism: Ghost in the Stone series. However, it signifies a definitive departure into the realm of science fiction. The sculpture delves into the concept of a cyborg, blending human (the neck and collarbones) and non-human (the geometric base) elements, while also questioning the perception of stone as inert and anti-modern. In reality, marble serves as a contemporary portal into geological time, a tangible relic that embodies the deep history of our planet and provides a useful lens through which to contextualize the climate crisis and our uncertain future.

Tides of Time

2024, hand carved Macael marble
28x 34x 17cm

Tides of Time, part of the Dark Optimism: Ghost in the Stone series, is an intuitive and organic form that blurs the line between drawing and sculpture, merging the raw with the refined. Its highly polished surface gleams with a wet, glossy finish, contrasted by the raw marble that encases and protects it. Like a shell on the beach, "Tides of Time" is a fragment of an incomprehensible geologic timeline, serving as an anchor point for us to recognise the vast expanse and wisdom of nature, of which we are also a part.

Fold

2024, hand carved Macael marble
25 x 15 x 56cm

Fold is where land and body converge, featuring a female torso that dissolves into folds of marble, seamlessly becoming part of the landscape. The arch of the back is both topographical and intimate, capturing a state of constant transformation. As part of the ongoing series Dark Optimism: Ghost in the Stone, this work blurs the lines between drawing and sculpture, embodying themes of unity, metamorphosis, and the interconnectedness of nature and humanity.