THEGALLERY

The personal exhibition of the sculptor Alessandro Chiaramonti is entitled “Small things – How children look at fish”. It opens on Saturday 20th of April at 4.30 pm and which will be visible at the Park until July 28th.

Chiaramonti’s exhibition is a direct opportunity: Just as art does, so his sculptures speak of us and directly to us. Chiaramonti plays, it must be said, with the concept of childhood and does so in a simple but concrete and direct way. It’s easy for him: behind small things he hides great possibilities, intended and reserved for those who are able, or simply willing, to seize them.

Through rapid hand movements, sometimes just fingers, the material (clay) is modelled to create predominantly figurative sculptures. This proliferation of faces and bodies leads us to liken a work by Alessandro Chiaramonti to a page of text, written in italics. Moreover, the subjects always seem to have something to tell.

The choice of clay and terracotta, often to the detriment of other materials such as bronze or marble, is inherent in that same process of creation, so dear to Alessandro Chiaramonti. And that’s not all. Terracotta, as a “poor” material, creates an extreme coherence with respect to the themes of humility and truth, central to the sculptor’s works. While the material remains modest, the process that leads to the finished work is extremely rich and not at all easy. On a structural level, in fact, it requires many precautions and more processing time for modelling, drying, firing and restoration.

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Alessandro Chiaramonti (Born 1982 in Empoli – lives and works in Chianti)

His passion for clay modelling began in the early 2000s, while working with children and adolescents as an educator. From that moment he decided to visit the workshops of the artisans of Montelupo, one of the most important centres for the processing of clay since the Renaissance. He delved into the plasticity of clay and then the casting of bronze. In 2018 he moved to Chianti and it was here that he began his actual career as an artist. He opened a personal studio, began to exhibit in local art galleries and started collaborations with other artists, institutes and associations. Alessandro Chiaramonti is a self-taught and immediate sculptor. The immediacy of his works is found both in the process of creation and in the understanding. It all starts from an often random inspiration, derived from the non-judgmental observation of people.