Luca Boffi

To explore the boundary between nature's autonomous development and human intervention, Luca Boffi “constructs” a painting-sculpture which, despite its abstraction, symbolises a cultivated field. The grass collected in the orchard adjacent to his studio is enclosed in a thin nylon net normally used for fishing. The colouring, obtained with vegetable dyes, varies in different areas of the work to represent different types of crops, but also the progression of the seasons. With their play of light, the glass “buds” that dot the surface evoke the moment of calm after a hailstorm (but also refer to climate change and its altered atmospheric phenomena). As announced by the title of the work, Tu sei l'insetto (You are the insect), within this symbolic field on a small scale, human presence is replaced (and paradoxically evoked) by that of a tiny being. A real beetle lies half-hidden in a corner of the painting, enclosed in a metal “armour” obtained using the electroforming technique. With this work, Boffi continues his research exploring the forms and implications of the natural and human environment in order to “develop an awareness that does not focus on possession”.

Stefano Castelli