Artist: Nicola Martini
Exhibition title: 1669
Venue: Clima, Milan, Italy
Date: February 7 – March 28, 2024
Photography: Flavio Pescatori / images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Clima, Milan
1669 is the new sculptural project by Nicola Martini presented and created specifically for Cli-ma’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 aforementio-ned 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.
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, 1669, 2024, exhibition view, Clima, Milan
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 230x110x40 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 230x110x40 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 230x110x40 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 230x110x40 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 185x120x35 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 185x120x35 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 185x120x35 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 225x110x40 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 225x110x40 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 225x110x40 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 225x110x40 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 225x110x40 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 50x62x13 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 50x62x13 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 50x95x16 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 50x95x16 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 50x95x16 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 45x85x18 cm
Nicola Martini, Xenolite, 2024, Basalt and polyurethane, 45x85x18 cm
