Sunflowers organics

2018 - ongoing
Dry sunflowers, glue and paint.

The work of Alberto Scodro is related to the Italian tradition of Arte Povera, and could be in the movement that Janet Bennett defines as vitalist materialism. Indeed, the life of matter is a recurring concern in most of Scodro’s works. He cultivates his garden, and lives almost in self-sufficiency. The natural elements feed him literally and figuratively, they define his practice. For Norma he presents Sunflowers. The sunflowers needed for the piece were grown in his garden several years ago, then dried in his Studio. He covered them with resin, and then stained them and glued them together. Such material groupings are similar to cells in process of mitosis, or beehives. His sunflower hearts are suspended in levitation in the space.
He sees them as suns and arranges them in constellations. The word «Sunflower» can be understood here in its most literal sense. In this work, the sun is a flower as the flowers are suns. In its cells, space holds time, compressed. The strange choreography of sunflowers takes place in nature both individually and simultaneously, all directed towards the heat of the light. In this case, these singular flower-beings are welded into inseparable entities, all turned towards different axes. Walking around the sculptures that turn on themselves slowly, we become their satellites. The objects determine and catalyse our movements and our gaze. A ballet of plants as beings, the magic of attraction, Scodro’s work reveals an esoteric aura.

Maud Salembier