From painting to sculpture

The SKETCHES - 1990 / 1994

Everything began with sketches that were born spontaneously, with pencil goes alone on the sheet, no precise idea, until the drawing are defined, taking shape and especially volume. The volume together with the dynamism of the composition was the most interesting aspect for me. The result was that of stylized female figures assembled so surreal, like figures captured in movement in space.

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The MONOCHROMES  - 1994 / 2003

The sketches were all strictly 5-6 cm square; may be it was my way to limit the space coming from always photographed with 6x6 cameras. The first drawings invariably ended up in the wastepaper basket, but later I began to collect them and unconsciously thinking of turning them into paintings. It took a bit 'of time and when I came to the decision to paint I chose to use the blue as dominant colour and produce blue monochromes. At first, I used only blue and white for highlights. As time passed, in the early 2000s, I began to enter some spaces of bright tones like red, yellow or green.

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The BAS - RELIEF - 2001 / 2006

In monochromes, the volume was the aspect mostly interesting for me and the idea of making a bas-relief was ripe and suggested by friends and critics. The opportunity came in 2001 at the symposium "Listening to the stone" to which I was invited.
I chose a flat stone, as close as possible to a square shape, and I drew on it the magnification of one of my drawings representing a dance move. After three weeks of work my first sculpture was ready and placed where it was born, in the town Park garden Belgioioso - Scaccabarozzi of Usmate Velate, I called it "Bolero". At the end of the symposium, I decided to devote myself to sculpture and continued to experiment with different materials, wood, stone and fireclays. It was a beautiful time, during which I met many good sculptors from whom I learned and with whom it created an atmosphere of unforgettable enthusiasm.

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The BRONZE - 2001 / 2007

Outside of the symposia, always inspired by the surreal shapes of my paintings, I began to create small stone sculptures and polyurethane models thinking about future bronze castings. I did different models, and I could not wait to transform them into the legendary material of sculptors: the bronze. I did not know which model to choose for the first experiment, at the end I chose "Minerva", although it was not the first model in chronological order. It was an unforgettable experience to choose the foundry, follow the preparation of the mould, retouch the wax, attend the lost wax casting and finally give the colour. I wanted to make "Artemis" shining and it was a tiring job, and then came "Margaret", "Thea" and finally "Diana" a big fusion of 150 cm.

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The CORNERS AND EDGES - 2006 to present

At this point, I had almost abandoned the painting. My latest works had been devoted to the synthesis of the most common symbols in my paintings. All my drawings turned more and more to the design of large-scale sculptures. I soon realized that it would be difficult to carry out these projects, especially for the weight and costs, but there was something beyond these considerations and it was what I wanted to get the momentum. The subjects of my paintings were never been represented as complete figures and now, in order to turn them into sculpture it was necessary to imagine them in their entirety, and it was at this time that in addition to the rounded lines began to appear corners and edges. This seemingly trivial change marked a turning point in my way of conceiving the work project and allowed me to build more quickly cardboard models. "Woman in the Sun" was one of the first models I did, and then this model was followed by others that I transformed in little marble sculptures.

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Works for exterior

With the little marble sculptures, I changed my style without denying my original inspiration, the works had retained the surreal idea and the softness of the forms, but my idea was to create big sculptures with small footholds on the ground and the marble is too heavy. I had to find a lightweight material, durable and easy to handling. The idea came to me during a visit to the Maeght Foundation in Saint Paul de Vence when I saw the installation of a Calder sculpture: it was made of steel. I had found the solution to the problem and I began to produce models with precarious balance as I imagined in my designs. I called "Characters" the first sculpture made of Corten steel and this was the beginning of what is my current artistic language.

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