13/10/2022
PINNA NOBILIS
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by Giorgio Andreotta Calò
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2017-2018, M series, ed.unique, white bronze
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Made in bronze, the sculptures produced by Calò from 2014 onwards portray specimens of Pinna Nobilis in their actual size, the shells of the bivalve mollusc, the largest in the Mediterranean waters, threatened by many human activities. Next to the central body formed by the shell, the metal casting channels and the “embouchure” are integral parts of the sculpture, traces of the lost wax casting process and, at the same time, supporting elements of the work itself. In some cases the original shell is contained within the bronze, emphasising the coexistence of the natural and the anthropic element, the alchemical transmutation between them.
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In 2017, Giorgio Andreotta Calò created a series of Pinna Nobilis in white bronze for the environmental installation Senza titolo (La fine del mondo) [Untitled (The end of the world)] exhibited at the Italian Pavilion during the 57th Venice Biennale.
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The Pinna Nobilis series brings to light many themes that are recurrent in the artist’s practice: notably, his view of the landscape, in particular the Venice lagoon, from which Andreotta Calò extracts fragments and reworks them into objects that possess a strong, symbolic and evocative charge. The symmetric form of Pinna Nobilis also recalls the symbology of the double as a vehicle of investigation for the present, suspended between reality and virtual representation.
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Visit the exhibition through 27.11.2022 at the Biblioteca Morandiana, ACP Palazzo Franchetti.
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