oh my darling, it's true. beautiful things have dents and scratches too. -unknown

perfect imperfections

Aug 28, 2022

Gyoia (Metamorphosis), 2019, White Marble, 66 9/10 × 19 7/10 × 19 7/10 in

Massimiliano Pelletti’s deceptively ancient-looking contemporary sculptures are eroded and pock-marked, denying the perfection we might expect from classically idealized figures. For example, his Venus (2014) is so perforated that she barely retains any facial features, with only the goddess’s stony material and silhouette hinting at her past glory. (Artsy.net)

See

My grandfather taught me to be humble, to fill the work with poetry and to face problems by transforming them into resources. Thanks to these teachings, in my work every defect has turned into merit. -Pelletti

Eros

White Crystal Venus, 2017

White Crystal Venus Detail, 2017

“Broken Blue”

Say

“In antiquity, classicism represented the divine perfection and also man’s ambition to rise to that perfection. In my work, I simply made this ambition more earthly, closer to us, to the contemporary man, with all its defects and its fragilities.” Pelletti

The period known as classical antiquity lasted roughly 1500 years, from 1000 BCE to 450 CE. Classical Art pursued ideals of beauty, harmony, and proportion, even as those ideals shifted and changed over the centuries. (theartstory.org) Does showing the ‘defects and fragilities’ of the stone in his classical representations help to make Pelletti’s art more accessible? How?
Does revealing the material’s imperfections add meaning to Pelletti’s work? What is your interpretation?
How is revealing the stones veins and pocks different from an artist who chooses to show the human humility by missing a stitch or intentionally skipping a bead? (Also known as humility block in quilting)

Do

Read an interview of Massimiliano Pelletti with Tobias Van Schneider from 2/25/2020.
“The Venus of Arles” (Louvre) “Gyoia”
Compare and contrast the idealised classical beauty of Venus of Arles with Pellettis modern, pock-marked and eroded Gyoia.

About the Artist:

Massimiliano Pelletti was born in 1975 in Pietrasanta, Italy, where he still lives and works. His classical sculpture of stone with an artistic touch is remarkable (iloboyou). His Venus (2014), for example, is so perforated that she barely retains any facial features, with only the goddess’s stony material and silhouette hinting at her past glory. Pelletti received his first lessons in marble working from his grandfather, a sculptor and later inherited his grandfather’s gypsothèque, which now serves as reference material for his work. He has exhibited his work at historic locations in his native Italy, such as the Temple of Hadrian and Abbey of San Zeno, and exhibited in the Italian pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale. Pelletti sometimes uses disparate materials in the same sculpture, unexpectedly incorporating onyx or quartz geode into a stone or marble work. (artsy)