The Artists of Pietrasanta
Jacob Cartwright | Helen O’Connell
Daniel Park | Sandro Del Pistoia
Flavia Robalo
‘Breathe’ . White Carrara marble . Height - 43cm . Width - 67cm . Depth - 22cm . POA
'Tramonto' . Carrara white marble and onyx . Height - 68cm . Width - 31cm . Depth - 28cm . POA
‘Moment’ . White Carrara marble . Height - 25cm . Width - 107cm . Depth - 48cm . POA
'Nebula' . Statuario Carrara white marble and orange onyx . Height - 35cm . Width - 21.5cm . Depth - 13cm . POA
'Xylem, Phloem' . Candoglia marble and steel Height - 38.5cm . Width - 26cm . Depth - 25 cm . POA
'Bolgán' . Belgian black marble on Iranian travertine base . Height - 140cm . Width - 50cm . Depth - 40cm . POA
Arborescent Coral study 1 . Portuguese marble . Height - 124cm . Width - 52cm . Depth - 20cm . POA
Arborescent Coral study 2 . Portuguese marble . Height - 112cm . Width - 30cm . Depth - 18cm . POA
'Metamorphosis' . Killkenny limestone . Height - 50cm . Width - 50cm . Depth - 50cm . POA
Yami Kara . Belgian black marble . Height - 22cm . Width - 30cm . Depth - 32cm . POA
‘Untitled (Key Pod)’ . Foundry bronze (Edition of 4) . Height - 165cm . Width - 38cm . Depth - 38cm . POA
‘Moira’ . Foundry bronze, wood and steel (Edition of 6) . Height - 173cm (inc base) . Width - 45.7cm . Depth - 35.6cm . POA
'Pelita Affiorante' . Mixed media assembled on wood panel . Height - 285cm . Width - 180cm . POA
‘Untitled (Raven Pod)’ . Foundry bronze (Edition of 3) . Height – 190.5cm . Width - 61cm . Depth - 61cm . POA
'Cosa si prova a togliere il fine alle azioni?' . White bronze . Height - 34cm . Width - 24cm . Depth - 3cm . POA
'Don’t be amazed at what you see, be amazed at yourself' . Iron . Height - 100cm . Width - 90cm . Depth - 25cm . POA
'La paura ci spinge ad essere speciali' . White bronze . Height - 42cm . Width - 27cm . Depth - 3cm . POA
'Non ti Ami ne ti odi' . Walnut . Height - 32cm . Width - 28cm . Depth - 48cm . POA
'Pillow' . White bronze . Height - 36.5cm . Width - 29cm . Depth - 3cm . POA
'Bautismo' . Statuario marble . Height - 27cm . Width - 53cm . Depth - 33cm . POA
'Cuore' . Cast iron . Height - 60cm . Width - 26cm . Depth - 35cm . POA
'El Borde' . Marble and wood . Height - 37cm . Width - 30cm . Depth - 20cm . POA
'Irupè' . Wood and iron . Height - 86cm . Width - 120cm . Depth - 70cm . POA
'Si quiero me toco el Alma' . Marble and iron . Height - 50cm . Width - 27cm . Depth - 30cm . POA
Unspoken notions
This show brings together five artists all working in Pietrasanta, an ancient Italian city just a short distance from Carrara, the world renowned ‘home of marble’.
While each artist carries unique sensibilities within their respective practices, there is a common thread that runs between them all. This unspoken notion is that of the importance of the artists' hand and connection with the mediums that they employ. There is a channeling of not only years of experience but intuition, an intuition that allows the feel, the potential and the scope of the material to guide them. A sculpture may create or find its own direction with the artist subconsciously shaping the path that it takes.
Jacob Cartwright creates forms in marble that that straddle a line between abstraction and loose figuration, never quite settling on one or the other. His works are meditative in tone and feel seeming to pulse in time with natures delicate rhythms. There is a lightness of touch that resonates through his creations with each piece achieving the finest of balances.
Daniel Park creates work in the figurative tradition with a contemporary sensibility that suggests a quiet, contemplative presence and an understated use of symbolism. His sculptures compress and simplify the human form into smooth, organic volumes that appear both grounded and in transition. Their subtle patination possesses a richness and depth that evokes timeworn monuments and artifacts shaped by memory, erosion, and time.
Sandro Del Pistoia trained as both a sculptor and an architect and his work reflects this meeting of playfulness and rigour. His work effortlessly flows between, and occasionally combines, a wide range of mediums with each one further advancing a curiosity and desire to explore the very nature of form and its translation into sculpture.
Flavia Robalo imprints memory and intimate lived experiences onto wood. Her hand carved sculptures are vessels that both project and invite introspection, asking us to pause and sense the altering states of urgency and calm that vibrate from them. Her sculptures exude an inner strength belied by their delicate appearance, seemingly in a state of transience ready at any moment to take on a new life.
Helen O’Connell isinspired by organic biomorphic forms found in nature, sequences and patterning found in the natural world, Irelands ancient relationship with stone as a medium and the recurring symbolic motif of the circle. Increasingly her sculpture seeks to draw attention to the epic scale of geological time contained in these stones and their fossils.