The sacred within wood.

MARCO BELLINI: 

THE SACRED WITHIN WOOD

KALPA Galleries are proud to present a selection of the most iconic, meditative pieces of Italian woodturner Marco Bellini (Vercelli, 1977), revealing the artist’s cultural background in philosophy, spiritual studies and his fascination with tribal art and essential forms.

As the following objects from the two series Opera al Nero and Muluvenice convey, Bellini’s wooden sculptures are invitations to get in touch with our inner fragility and some of our most primordial needs as human beings. Archaic and evocative, they express their author’s impulse to create in order to express a universal, nonverbal message, as did our ancestors when they drew their first paintings on cave walls.

"The lathe is the rational part of my craft. It is good for creating functional pieces, bowls, and table legs. My current research is more about letting a primordial instinct emerge, trying to push techniques, gestures, and materials over the edge."

Every knot is a natural juncture, both simultaneously a symbol of strength and fragility. Every line tells a story, a passage of time, a new turn on the lathe. As the rings of a tree are the true natural archive of the secret tale of the forest it has lived in, its age and health, the lines engraved on the surfaces of Opera al Nero vessels witness a passage in the artist's creative evolution and critical introspection of his own work. 

The title of the series comes from celebrated author Marguerite Yourcenar's milestone book L'Oeuvre au Noir, as well as creating a link to the first of the main stages, The Nigredo, in which the Great Work of Alchemy is composed. Recalling an ancient mysterious practice, this is truly a dance of elements: fire, oxides and graphite interplay on the walnut wood from which the vessels are made. Technically, these are lathe work and sculpture, sometimes including both aspects in the same piece.

Spanning vases, bottles, vessels and abstract sculptures, each form communicates gentle movement and organic flow. The surfaces of some pieces are enhanced with graphic carved patterns, while others are left plane or with the cracks of the wood visible. In his art process, particularly in the series Muluvenice, the artist exposes his pieces to fire for longer than is common practice in woodturning, exaggerating its effects and allowing such natural elements to design the flow of lines, defects, and colours.

Like spiritual beings emerging from dark corners, the long wooden silhouettes are meant to evoke awe and wonder in the one who happens upon them. This series is inspired by the Underworlds of ancient cultures like the Etruscans and other Italic populations, and earlier pre-neolithic cultures, reflecting their desire to raise prayers to the heavens. Hence the dark textured pieces, the red stains and the long necks pointing skywards.

"My pieces are relationships: the object, the scenery, the light and the person observing are all bound to relate, otherwise there won't be any proper communication."

Living and working in the small village of Camino in the hilly and historical area of Monferrato, Piedmont, Bellini graduated in Philosophy and then worked for a short time as a book editor, before completing his Master's in Computer Sciences in 2003 working within this field for eight years. Embracing a new life and career, he traveled for a year in Eurasia and has been studying wood since his return. In 2016, he set up his own professional studio as a wood turner and maker and since his work has been represented in both Europe and the USA. Exhibiting since 2018, Bellini has participated in collective shows, art fairs and solo shows in recent years in Italy and the UK. In 2022, he was listed among the artists in the well-regarded Homo Faber Guide (Venice) for arts and crafts.

Experimenting with different species of forms and wood, including walnut, olive, beech and peach, Bellini crafts his objects using a variety of techniques, guided by the specific shapes, fragilities and idiosyncrasies of the pieces he has selected. He describes artistic expression as a complex challenge, in that an object alone is like a word out of context, aiming to initiate a realisation of the inexplicable world around us in an embrace of the meaningful incompleteness of knowledge.

"Bellini's objects conjure a remote time in which the sacred and profane were not separate concepts: 'when a house could also be a temple, baking bread could be a ritual'."

Photography of Marco Bellini's artworks: Vittorio Marrucci for KALPA

Photography of the studio: courtesy The Artist

KALPA INSTAGRAM