“1669” is the new sculptural project by Nicola Martini presented and created specifically for Clima’s venue in Milan.
The date-title refers to the year of the great eruption of the Etna volcano that led to the destruction and burial of most of the Etnean villages up to the western outskirts of the city of Catania.
For the occasion, the artist works with natural basalt peels extracted from the quarry located in today’s Belpasso, reconstructed on the ashes of the ancient Malpasso buried by the aforementioned eruption.
The sculptures in the exhibition feature expanding polyurethane grafts that embrace the structure of the lava basalt. The polyurethane thus exposed to UV rays begins its slow process of degradation by photodeperation.
The works are thus characterized as amplifiers of contrasts; weights, density and origin of the material result at the antipodes, two polarities that coexist in a hybrid “object,” unconquerable. The union of two living materials blows up the distinction between natural and cultural in a continuous poetic balance between reality and interpretation.
at Clima, Milano
until March 28, 2024