Rewilding Marble

Dear Friends,

I'm excited to update you on what's been happening in my studio.

Pictured above are my latest sculptures, Shoulderscape I & II. These works are part of my evolving series, Dark Optimism: Ghost in the Stone, introduced in my 3rd sculpture newsletter.

Shoulderscape I & II were created in tandem but can also be standalone sculptures. Each piece features a carved shoulder blade morphing into raw Macael marble.

In Shoulderscape I (pictured above), the neck dissolves into deep folds of sliced marble, and in Shoulderscape II (pictured below), the chest degrades to raw stone. Central to these works is the absence of any further anatomical elements, such as a head. Instead, both sculptures feature a curved concave plane, the most polished element on the sculpture, which juxtaposes various textures possible with marble.

The pieces are also inspired by organic forms; Shoulderscape II (pictured below) incorporates a scalloped edge reminiscent of an oyster shell. Like other pieces in the Dark Optimism: Ghost in the Stone series, these works are intended to conjure topography reminiscent of mountain peaks and valleys, playing with the macro and microcosm of working with a small piece of material mined from a mountain and then shaped to reflect one.

The work aims to prompt reflection on the human form in and on the landscape, inviting contemplation of the land itself, the stone that makes up and gives structure to our planet, and in this case, the nature of marble as a material randomly created in a mysterious alchemical process millions of years ago. I find great solace in this thought — being with something that was made millions of years ago. I believe there is power and energy in this concept and in this physical form, offering an opportunity to reflect on geological deep time and contextualize our own lives as a mere moment within it.

Both sculptures are currently available for acquisition, please contact me directly for more information and pricing.

In this edition of my sculpture newsletter I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the often-overlooked significance of materials in contemporary art. I see the lack of discussion stemming from the fact that many artists, curators, and commentators do not fully understand the art fabrication process because they are only marginally involved with it. Many contemporary artists enlist skilled fabricators to bring their vision to life. These expert craftspeople carve, cast, print, paint, and weld their work into the physical forms we admire.

The role of the fabricator is crucial but also transactional. They serve as a tool, and thus their perspective and experience do not enter the discourse on the piece. My intention is not to question or define the role of the artist and the tools and processes we use to make our work. I simply feel the need to address the absence of material awareness in the conversation surrounding many works of art I’ve come to love.

I also feel that this is particularly relevant in the wake of emerging robotic tools in the art fabrication process. Many marble sculptures are now carved with a robotic arm, completing the work in hours, which would take humans days or weeks. This development is simply a shiny new tool for artists to use, much like hiring a fabricator; the robot is an effective executor of tasks but not a creative agent in itself. I’m not threatened by this new technology; I find it fascinating and entertaining. However, my original point remains the same: I’m seeking greater depth in the dissemination of ideas around the role, lifespan, and treatment of materials in contemporary art and will continue to share my thoughts about it here in this newsletter.

In my practice, I have not incorporated fabricators or robotic tools. My work is the output of hundreds of hours of physical and mental labor. The work literally shows the marks of my energy + time.

Moreover, I wanted to delve into the current situation of how I see marble existing in the world right now. Marble has been reduced to a decorative virtue signal, a signifier of opulence and taste, or an imitation of one. In our contemporary context, ‘new’ marble (recently mined marble) has been tamed, in the form of elegant, high end countertops and hotel lobby floors, and old marble (mined during classical civilization) is on display in the form of fragments of busts and classical statuary in traditional museum settings. I see this as the domestication of marble. Even though both examples of new and old are equally ancient, formed millions of years ago, the only difference is what century the marble was mined and manipulated.

Marble, quite literally, embodies time compressed into crystallized strata. Through the transformative forces of heat and pressure, this metamorphic rock visually and atomically encapsulates a compressed history of the Earth. This alchemy is mostly lost on us, mainly because of its quotidian role in interior design, and also because the classical legacy has made marble sculpture and architecture an expected and familiar cultural trope.

In my ongoing sculptural series, Dark Optimism: Ghost in the Stone, I seek to rewild marble through the advancement of an alternative temporality—that of geological deep time. Marble is uniquely positioned to raise awareness of this narrative; it has always been prehistoric. From ancient Athens and Rome to contemporary mining efforts in Carrara and Macael, the material is the same, and the time that has passed between these two historical markers is enormous on the scale of human history but insignificant in the face of geological time.

Humans are a geological force, but we cannot comprehend the timescales of geological change. The artist, Julian Charriere, notes about his 2019 work Not All Who Wander Are Lost that cultural and anthropological histories have conditioned us to look at time as a linear and horizontal process. An event, like the birth of Christ, is used to mark what comes before and after; however, geology marks time vertically in strata. He explains that core drilling is a way of projecting ourselves into geological time. Charriere is actively drilling into the earth to make his work, while the marble blocks I’m using are offcuts extracted likely many decades ago. I know this because the stone is extremely weathered; the outside appears muted and unremarkable, but one strike with chisel and hammer reveals the complexity of the crystalline composition hidden within.

All materials have an ecological impact. Just to name a few, it could be toxic or non-recyclable, polluting, energy-consuming, or depleting natural resources. Nothing is absolute, and like all things, ecologically conscious art is full of contradictions. However, I want to lean into this uncomfortable conversation on the sustainability of materials in art and in manufacturing art.

Ecologically conscious art or art about something related to our planet or ecology has tended to adopt a minimal or linear visual aesthetic. It makes sense that art about science (and science-adjacent themes) should mirror the familiar visual language of the scientific world. This scientific aesthetic is visually explicit in the work of Anicka Yi, an artist I greatly admire, whose physical output can often look quite pseudo-laboratory-like, and perhaps more implicit in the meticulous research practices and methodology/documentation of an artist like Ilana Halperin, whose work I also love, and whose research is very scientific, but her physical output is mostly performance, text, and video work.

The role of science in my practice is more philosophical, and the aesthetic of my work is more gestural. This choice reflects my interest in the power of aesthetics as an allegory for concept. By building a formal visual language in my work, informed by art history, personal experience, research, and formal uses of the medium (traditional sculpting techniques), the driving force is to make something that uniquely combines personal resonance, global context, and artistic expression. I’m seeking to establish a distinctive voice within the discourse of environmentally conscious art because marble is more than decoration; it's an invitation to contextualize the brevity of human life and ponder the vastness of deep geological time.

Thank you for being here; I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to share my work with you. Currently, I'm immersed in developing numerous new sculptures. If you are interested in discovering more about the available pieces and prices, please don't hesitate to reach out directly at [email protected].

Warm wishes,

Isotta