Vernissage:
Venerdì 24/02/2017 ore 18:00
Tekè Gallery
Via Santa Maria 13, Carrara (MS)
Exhibition duration: dal 24/02/2017 al 24/03/2017
Silvia Vendramel presents an exhibition that unfolds across all three spaces of the gallery, following a path that explores the concept of memory through actions rich in multiple layers of meaning, impressions, and emotions. These elements remain as electrically charged traces on the objects and materials used to create the works. Her research investigates the relationships and possible interactions between contrasting materials, drawing and sculpture, presence and the transience of matter.
The tension between fragility and balance is fully expressed in the Soffi series, shown in the central room of the Teké gallery. These works, made of glass and iron, have a decorative, ornamental appearance, yet carry within them the need to fill a void, to give shape to a gesture that evokes passion and memory. There's a contrast between the rigid metal and the blown glass surfaces, which seem to swell and then constrict. It's a constant push and pull between the lightness of thought and the hardness of action—forms that are at once embracing and suffocating.
In her more recent works, on display in the gallery’s entrance space, bare iron rods—like quick charcoal sketches—intertwine with fabrics, cloth and cotton threads. The marks from working the metal remain clearly visible.
Imperfections, cuts, second thoughts are left exposed on purpose; they tell the story of the creation process and give each piece its own character. These sensual, enveloping forms connect the viewer with a stream of impressions and emotions that resonate deeply with childhood memories and fragments of lived experience.
One example is the sculpture titled "Di qualcosa il fondo, per qualcosa il coperchio" ("One thing’s bottom, another’s lid"). A large, imposing work made of sand, shaped by filling a bathtub, and laid atop a fabric-covered crate. The sculpture recalls childhood summers, sandcastles and those fleeting forms destined to vanish by the end of a hot afternoon. Its central, monumental placement in the semi-underground gallery space enhances its sacred quality. "Di qualcosa il fondo, per qualcosa il coperchio" brings to mind the form of an Etruscan sarcophagus—rich not in precious objects, but in the treasured memories of a life stage that no longer exists.
We're not very used to thinking about our lives as transitional, as something that leaves marks. But every action, every daily gesture, is registered by the objects and people we encounter, by the situations we live through.
One day, we won’t be part of this flow anymore. And what will remain of our passage will be sensations—traces—on everything we touched, used, consumed along the way.
This lived memory is what I sense in Silvia Vendramel’s work. In many ways, it brings to mind the natural history museum from The Catcher in the Rye, where every animal, every model, every figure remains frozen forever in its pose. And it's us—every time we return to see these sculptures—who bring the weight and accumulation of new memories since the last time we saw them.
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