Greto di Torrente

Rocks were among the first subjects that Gilardi sculpted in polyurethane foam to realize his Tappeti-Natura. The idea came while Gilardi was passing a stream with rubbish along the shore and wanted to recreate an unpolluted nature instead. For this reason, in the early period of Gilardi's nature-carpets, there is often the presence of rocks. "Greto di torrente" is an artwork that expresses the desire to transform a reality in which you do not recognize yourself at all, eliminate it, revolutionize it in order to render it newly and deeply ours.

Gilardi sculpted many stones from the polyurethane foam, coloring them and assembling them in a composition with an exemplary balance. Not only is this artwork an aesthetic object, but it was intended for people to walk on it, experience transformative sensations, and enter into a special dimension. In this way, artifice and nature encounter each other, body and environment activate a dialogue: it is a true "hybridization" an almost alchemical reaction, because Gilardi configured a world in which one loses oneself in order to finally find oneself again. Each stone, formed at the heart of the earth, brings with it a unique power. Gilardi wanted to transfer this energy into the softness and lightness of the polyurethane foam.