Elisabetta Di Maggio
Elisabetta Di Maggio's work stems from a deep reflection on the correlation between microcosm and macrocosm, in a continuous search for the essential structure of things and those invisible networks in which we move and of which we ourselves are made. Thus, the artist highlights the connection between man and the universe and finds unexpected parallels between various contexts and spheres.
In order to reveal the invisible texture of things, the artist uses a surgical scalpel to incise different types of materials with precision, such as small or large leaves, soap, porcelain, sheets of tissue paper as well as a variety of surfaces including old plastered walls which bring to light the pre-existing layers of colours and the traces of a past life revealing the hidden geography that compare the lines of the palm of a hand and the structure of a leaf, urban maps and venous circuits have in common, which serve to remind us that man is a smaller version of the cosmos.
The title of the exhibition, In-attesa, alludes to time in a number of ways, to the feeling of being in a state of suspension between a before and an after, and thus to a sense of anticipation of something that is about to happen but that has not yet occurred or to something that happens unexpectedly and suddenly.
The works to be exhibited include: Annunciazione, depicts two large dragonfly wings carved in copper that are reminiscent of the wings of angels in the annunciations of the tradition of Renaissance painting but, due to their membranous structure, also recall the stained-glass windows of cathedrals and the design made by the veins of a leaf; Traiettoria di volo di farfalla made with entomological pins, is a metaphor for the course our lives have taken and the many extraordinary evolutions that have been made prior to reaching our destination with movements similar to those of butterflies, whose flight trajectory is never linear; the mosaic Pie in the Sky, made of glass fragments, gleams like a watercolour of light from the elliptical opening of the gallery's dividing wall; delicate wax mosaics of the Cosmographiae series are inspired by images of geographical planispheres of antiquity.
The gallery space in via Carlo Poerio 116 hosts the work entitled Rape, based on reflections on violence against women and composed of six hundred Marseille Sole soaps carved by hand with obsessive precision. Marseille soap is known for removing even the most stubborn stains, its scent is intense and strong and is reassuring to those who smell it because they recognise something familiar and domestic. Only upon closer examination does one become aware of the violence and pain expressed by the other words carved in the soap that describe the body liquids produced during the violence: saliva, blood, sweat, semen, urine, and tears, stains that cannot be washed away.
Talk with Elisabetta Di Maggio
Friday, January 19
6.30 pm
via carlo poerio 110
