Natural contaminations – SCULTURE IN FELTRO (FELT SCULPTURE)

The Sinopia Gallery has been open on Rome for 30 years and its goal has always been to carry out a work of contamination between ancient and contemporary art also in reference to applied arts such as ceramics, glass and fiber art.

The exhibition “Sculpture in Felt” combines tradition and innovation: felt, a humble material, ancient and heritage of the artisan tradition, a material difficult to manipulate and transform, is updated through processes and intentions that transport it into the contemporary sublimating it into an object of art.

The works on display are many, very different from each other in style and interpretation of the basic material.

Entering the gallery, we are welcomed by the soft and warm light of Esther Weber’s works, the Trees – light, sculptures, obviously in felt, which represent the encounter between nature and artificial light, in an interweaving of materials and vertical forms that suggest a feeling of loneliness and serenity.

Claudio Varone, textile artist and interior designer, is on display with two works of strong visual impact: “I Fuochi del Redentore“, created in collaboration with Anneke Copier and “New Identity 2“.  The first sculpture is a reference to the festivities that followed the end of the plague in Venice in the 1600s, while “New Identity 2” explores the multiple realities that arise from the encounter between different identities.

Inside the exhibition space there are continuous references to natural shapes and sculptures represented by Madrepores from a private collection in Florence that create, together with the substance of felt, also produced by nature, a union of particular interest.

Madrepora from a private collection, Florence.

The artist Marilù Cecchini exhibits three works inspired by the Sicilian landscape and its island nature.

Continuing we find “Terra/Aria“, a dress made by Maria Cristina Bettini in which to complete a bodice in plaster, linen and nylon thread, long felt tentacles draw the idea of a body thought but absent.

Very particular and complex of realization is “Organism: Origin of the Species” by Cinzia Li Volsi, in which each element is worked individually to compose the entire work. Two other sculptures by the same artist are exhibited, always exploring the theme of nature and the current ecological crisis with a view to loss but also rebirth and regeneration of life.

Daniela Costanzo Giorgio, an expert weaver and felt-mistress, presents “Mina Vagante“, a work with an attractive appearance, in which the colour deceives and hides the secret content of the mine ready to explode.

There is also a historical piece by Eva Basile, one of the first works of research with felt to be present in art exhibitions: “QuellaSporcaDozzina”(The Dirty Dozen), which takes its cue from a photo that portrayed an environmental activist with hands dirty with crude oil. A work of denunciation.

“Quella Sporca Dozzina”, wool, glue, acrylic paint, wet felt, 100cm x 100cm x30cm, 2009, copyright Eva Basile, photography Riccardo Pieroni

The Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna is represented by the three artists Valentina Dentello, NatasciaGasperoni and TizianaAbretti. The very young Valentina Dentello exhibits a work of embroidery in cotton threads on felt sheets, a sort of textile diary in which the artist stops her thoughts in a poetic and self-ironic way.

Natascia Gasperoni presents three works related to the theme of space and time and their absolutely personal interpretation. “Felt is a strong material, which still has in itself the scent, the colour, the aura of its previous life”.

TizianaAbretti exhibits three works from the series “FermoApparente” in which felt, a warm and enveloping organic material, becomes the guardian of the transformations that rock crystal (of which the three works are covered) undergoes over time, transforming and growing by clinging to the natural fibre.

“FermoApparente 4″, “FermoApparente 5”, “FermoApparente 6“, felt, handmade paper, food colouring, internal structure. Formation and growth of rock alum crystals, 2018-2019, copyright TizianaAbretti.

For almost twenty years Cristina di Nardo has been using felt in her artistic research. Her “VasiNomadi (Nomadic Vases)” are inspired by natural shapes and colours and refer to the culture of the nomads of Asia Minor who have been using felt objects for centuries to fold and carry with them for practical and symbolic purposes.

Teacher and felt artist, Barbara Girardi has created a bizarre headgear hanging in the void, ready to cover the head of the user. The colors in aquatic shades, the materiality of the felt and the placement of the work in space, suggest the intent of the artist to invite the public to live an immersive experience in the shadow of his headgear.

Laura Sassi with her shapes derived from objects of daily use amazes and seduces the viewer: the object deprived of its natural materiality and solid consistency, is presented in a new light and manifests the hidden qualities of the form only.

Diana Poidimani exhibits “Tris”, a work composed of three vertical elements with plant inserts, flowers and roots, indicating the ideal connection with the earth.

“Tris“, paper cord, manipulated raw wool, felted lanan flakes, merino wool tubulars, hand woven tubular, needle felt and water, 120x50cm, 2019, copyright Diana Poidimani