Senza titolo. Giuseppe Penone al lavoro sull’installazione dell’opera “Sculture di Linfa”, MAXXI (2010) by Elisabetta CatalanoMAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts
Guiseppe Penone
The performance artist and sculptor Giuseppe Penone was born in 1947 in Garessio, a village in the region of Piedmont, Italy. For the past fifty years, he's crafted sculptures using a range of materials, but he is best known for his Alberi - stripped tree trunks.
His use of natural materials, performance, and trees started during his days studying sculpture at the Accademia Albertina in Turin. It's said that he found the inspiration to use natural materials while walking in the Alpine forests near his home village.
11-meter Tree (1969/1989) by Giuseppe PenoneCastello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea
The first of Penone's Alberi were made in 1969, during his final year at the academy. He made these sculptures by taking cut timbers from builders yards and stripping back the growth rings, layer-by-layer, leaving knots in place until they emerge as branches.
This process is remarkably tough, as only thin slivers can be removed at a time. It requires great concentration and a steady hand, to avoid damaging the sculpture.
Three-Meter Tree Three-Meter Tree (1988) by Giuseppe PenoneMagazzino Italian Art
But the result is remarkable. The image of a tree emerging from the solid beam is akin to stepping back in time. It lets you see the shape of the sapling as it stood maybe fifty years previously.
In 1970, Penone turned this peeling process into a performance, stripping a timber down in front of a live audience. In this, he revealed how human activity, industrial object, and natural material are intimately intertwined.
In Limine (2011) by Giuseppe PenoneFondazione De Fornaris
Penone's recent practice involves trees. In limine, or Threshold, is permanently installed in front of the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin. Here, the cast bronze trunk of a lime tree leans precariously from its Carrara marble plinth.
In Limine - Inauguration archive (2011) by Giuseppe PenoneFondazione De Fornaris
Even if this metal tree will never rot away, this 'falling' sculpture hints to the impermanence of both nature and art. At the same time, it forms a portal, welcoming everyone who walks under it into the museum.
Identity (2001/2001) by Giuseppe PenoneCastello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea
A similar sculpture, named Identità, stands outside the Castello di Rivoli in Rivoli, Italy. Its two identical bronze and silver bodies are made from casts of a real tree.
Elevazione (2000/2001) by Giuseppe PenoneInhotim
Penone has even created sculptures using living trees. Elevazione was commissioned by the Inhotim Collection in Brazil. Here, a replica chestnut tree has been cast in bronze and elevated on poles.
Saplings have been planted next to these support. As the trees grow, their trunks will encompass the supports, and their canopies will grow over the top of the metal sculpture, creating a kind of natural enclosure for the artwork.
Sculture di linfa (2007) by Giuseppe PenoneMAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts
Set on the floor at the centre of the room is a wooden beam that holds pine resin, the vital lymph. The artist – ever attentive to nature and its processes of development and transformation – revives the tree itself.
Listen to Giuseppe Penone talk about his natural sculptures in this video recorded at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, England.
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