Ceppo, 1993

A. wood and paint, 11.2×53.3×29.7 cm
B. wood and paint, 37.5×50.2×70.2 cm
C. wood, sand and paint, 34×54.6×33.5 cm
Mauro Staccioli Archive Museum, Volterra

In 1995 Staccioli took part in a “National Competition for Works of Art” for the new Palace of Justice in Padua. The sculptor, considering the architecture and function of the place, imagines a monolithic form for the hemicycle of the inner garden and a sphere to be placed in the building that would underline the meaning and function of the place. The two forms are dictated by the visual reading of the architecture, which, with its numerous arches and ramps, is strongly characterized by the recurrence of curved elements. In the courtyard, moreover, at the two extremes of the half-moon, he plans to insert a pyramidal Oak and a Lagerstroemia, thus marking the passage of the seasons and measuring the relationship between art and nature. The sculpture, in its unstable equilibrium, is also intended to recall the constant precariousness between being and reason. For the outdoor garden, a space open to the city, Staccioli recalls the constituent elements of the indoor garden but turns the sculpture upside down, placing it diagonally to orient the paths. The project is named “Ceppo” in relation to the choice of material: the Ceppo di Iseo.

© Enrico Fontolan, Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Insitute, Roma. Courtesy Archivio Mauro Staccioli.