- ATTEMPTn°5
Is gestures, is actions, is clay, is destruction, is regeneration, is repetition, is process, is wind and fog, is my hands, and yours.
[by Angela Melito]
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CYCLE 0/ THE WHOLE
Unlink the identity from a still image. Emancipate gestures from the commitment of reproduction. Addressing the injury related to destruction. Coping with absence. Fill the void. Destroy the shapes again. Collect the fragments to regenerate them. Disintegrate the ceramic fragments in specks of dust. Cancel the particularity of each fragment. Focus the attention on the gesture. Forget the purpose / end result. Collect the specks. Pour the water. Reunite them in a whole. Attempt n°5 is a tale of a method. The method is structured in cycles. The phases of each cycle are: destruction of a piece of clay/recollection of the pieces/ regeneration of the fragment to create a new form. The aim of the project is to question stability. The aim is to forget the purpose, understand the action, rehabilitate the possibility of non action. Address the prejudice related to the destruction of the result.
Cancel the product, regenerate it, repeat the cycle.
Attempt n°5 is a material archive, a synthesis of the research that has reached a symbolic end in which the number 4 coincides with the cycle 0, where the end and its synthesis becomes a new beginning, where the sums drawn open up new horizons.
THE CYCLES
CYCLE I/DESTRUCTION
The hands release, forget the tension, remain motionless, as if to postpone the consequences of letting go. Matter cuts the air, breaks. The fall has its own time, the bond created between the hands and the object remains, as if the energy released in the gesture of abandonment wanted to accompany the form in the last step before destruction. The hands collect the fragments, order in a pile what remains of what was once their work of art and on the floor the trace. The trace left by the fragments in breaking and the trace of the hands that have drawn trails of dust. The fragments refuse each other, they are distant, take refuge in solitude, inhabiting it. The guilt makes its way into the pile and when even the last echo of the destruction has freed the space, the tired fragments, in silence, welcome the resignation. The tide raised the water level, flooded the shore to reach the road. On that trace of resigned beauty, the hands grasp the jug, pour the water, the drops bounce, the air remains to watch and slowly the rubble rejoins.
Matter is silent, the left hand balances the body, the right hand dives, the fingers become tentacles. The air blows away the doubts, it knows the proportions and delicately defines the necessary. The fog questions the objects, the outlines, the differences, everything is confused into something else. The eyes seek the invisible in search of existence, they strive. The house trembles, the wind moves all things, unsettles certainties, disturbs the order. The children ran, the wind raised a cloud of specks, we closed our eyes.
CYCLE II/RECOLLECTION OF THE GHOST FRAGMENTS
A cloud of dust rose from the fragments, as a shadow slowly moved in the space of the room, soon that shadow turned into a ghost. The ghostly shadow had taken control of my hands, my mind, my eyes, the reproduction of the forms became obligatory, directed, possessed as by a demon whose only purpose was to finish, produce, create surplus. This is the ghost I speak of, the monster that hides everywhere, imperceptible, forces me to act in a certain way, directs my choices in the background, behind the scenes of what I believe to be my freedom of choice, my free will. The clay regenerated in the bucket had all the energy of infinite possibilities, the shadow/ghost rose from the fragments on the floor, conditioned my action, directed the possibilities, led them to one and only one.
CYCLE III / REGENERATION OF THE DUST
The right arm beats on the solid ceramic. The stone becomes the workshop. The sound of the hammer beating is lost in the air. Individuality, specificity, uniqueness are questioned. Each fragment seems to claim its place in the play of artistic representation. Each fragment claims to exist for itself, self-sufficient, independent, now the thread that united the pieces is only a memory. The arm gives firm hammering, the more the fragments disintegrate, the more the action loses strength. Uniqueness is lost in the dust, each speck looks alike, individuality no longer finds consistency or stability. The right hand holds the hammer, the left hand contains and protects the dust from the most difficult fragments to disintegrate, those who let themselves jump disproportionately, so far that the sight finally loses them. The hand squeezes the wooden handle, the hammering follows the same rhythm, the wrist tries to keep control of the movement. The specks are collected in a pile of dust, resemblance eliminates rejection. The hands poor the water, mix the material, the fingers are tentacles again, they place the regenerated material on a flat surface, in a frame. The material remains to rest, slowly the water flows from the silk weave and when ready it is turned upside down and left to dry on a cotton cloth. The two-dimensionality has brought the fragments back into a whole.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Each project is a story in itself, a material experimentation, an attempt. Through the repetition of gestures and actions I manipulate the material observing my perceptions and the surroundings.
Each project is a piece of Knowledge.
Angela Melito (born in 1992, Napoli, Italy) is an Italian artist based in Goteborg, Sweden. The key words of her creative practice are material research and observation. Through the making she investigates issues of identity, reality, illusions and social myths.
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Angela Melito [Born In 1992, Napoli, Italy] Currently Based In Göteborg, Sweden.
Education
2018-2020 Högskolan För Design Och Konsthantverkmaster Degree
– Craft Program, Specialization In Ceramics
2011-2015 Fine Arts Academy Napoli, It – Bachelor Degree – Fine Art Program
2005-2010 High School Of Fine Arts – Napoli, It – High School Art Diploma
Selected Exhibitions
2020 Keramiskt Center, Höganäs, Se, Group Exhibition
2019 Glashuset, Göteborg, Sweden “Myth, Misfortune,Horror And Luck” Group Exhibition
2017 Art Residency Airy Yamanashi, Japan “Inemuri” Solo Exhibition In Terasaki’s Space.
Grants
2020 Svenska Slöjdföreningen
Works
2020 Workshop: färgpuff/colour jumble, Stockholm Craft Week, Stockholm
2020 Workshop: Dabooom, Elementary school, Napoli – Designing and realization of playgrounds games
2019 Workshop: Inspiration Bauhaus, Röhsska Museum Of Design And Craft, Göteborg
2017 AIRY YAMANASHI, art residency, Kofu City, Jp – -Workshops with the local community
Contact: angelamelito1@gmail.com
