From the serie Reperti, work on wood, approx. 60x40, after bronze head of King Obalufon, Yoruba, Ife, Nigeria, 1300, AD.

I am in the embryonic phase of a project concerning the ancient world. It is called Reperti in italian and Fouilles in french. It organizes my passion for archaeology, the vivid emotion I feel for the artifacts created by humanity that preceded us and the ambivalent relationship I have with museums and institutions. For as long as I can remember, the ancient societies of the world have always fascinated me. I was interested in learning about the way of life of ancient people of the Earth, abour how and why they did the things they did.

This project manifests itself through painting,on large scale paper or shaped hand cut wood, tracing chosen figures from antiquity, putting them in dialogue with each others and with us. The material fragility that coexists with a resistance close to eternity, the charge of meaning and rituality, the harmony in forms, materials and manufacture, make us reflect on what the contemporary is made of, on what future memory. Connecting myself to warburgian visions I create a noisy cosmopolitan and humanist sentimental atlas in which ancient presences take voice with very bright colours, becoming very young with a pop soul that transfer to us an amplified, contemplative imaginary, in which we feel the warmth and value of human relationships and skills among themselves and with the environment, a hope that I think it is important to activate at this time. It is not about nostalgia for a hypothetical golden age but about getting closer to attention and knowledge, to the desire to dive into different languages and to tap into intelligences that have been biocompatible and real travellers before us. 

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Nigerian King's Head