THE TRANSIENCE OF ALL FORMS: THE PAINTING OF MICHELE BRUNA

Italian contemporary painter Michele Bruna’s research revolves around themes of metamorphosis, balance, and instability. Drawing inspiration from the movements of Arte Povera and Art Informel, his practice centers on experimenting with raw and recovered materials and their potential conversation with the environment. Working with paper casts, ash, textiles, and oxidized metals, the artist translates the physical properties of these elements into abstract, highly tactile compositions, ranging from paintings to bas-reliefs.

At KALPA, we are proud to present Bruna's latest series of paintings, Cineres, in which ash is both medium and vehicle for a journey of profound renewal, as well as a token of transformation and sacredness. Using recovered wood ash, the artist pours the paint created with this humble, yet symbolic substance, onto the canvases positioned horizontally on the floor, embracing unpredictability and possible mistakes. His vision captures the artwork in a state of flux, reflecting the ephemeral quality of all living forms.

“During my creative process, a symbiosis occurs between man and nature, between reality and imagination, in an ever-changing dualistic relationship."

In the Cineres series, Bruna explores the narrative potential of an artwork’s entire life cycle. From inception to the process of creation, the artist's gesture remains intentionally imperfect, often guided by chance and deeply rooted in intimate memories. 

Ash itself evokes the concept of impermanence. Its inherent fragility implies a poignant metaphor for the state of transience of life, embodying the journey of human existence since the dawn of time. It is also connected to rituals of purification and to fire, acting as a fertile ground from which new life and creativity emerge.

The textures of the Cineres paintings are dense and rich in tonal nuance, presenting grey tones according to the gradations of ash and water in the paint. The surfaces fluctuate between translucent layers and thick, tactile applications of colour. As the paint falls on the canvas, its inherent instability creates a geography of craters, fissures, and areas of varying densities. With a spatula, Bruna then intervenes to spread the colour, striking a deliberate balance between dense surfaces and quiet voids, and creating a sense of dynamism.

Bruna’s creative process implies a physical immersion into the medium. Moving around the canvas and approaching it from every angle, the artist allows the creative act to be inspired by the natural movement of the paint itself. 

Gravity acts as the uncontrollable force, shaping matter into unpredictable outcomes and symbolically reflecting our ability to learn from failures. The cycle of ash becomes a reflection on the process of personal and collective evolution. Each stain and trace of ash represents a step towards rebirth, a symbol of how every fall and every seemingly insignificant element can contribute to a new form of beauty and meaning.

“From genesis to death, my process is almost ritualistic.”

Michele Bruna (1990, Cuneo, Northern Italy) earned his BFA (2013) and MFA (2015) in Painting from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan, where he delved into the study of Art Informel movement under the supervision of Professor and Abstract artist Italo Bressan. Among his most significant group exhibitions, are Intima Materia in Cuneo and Paris (2022-2023), Lucca Biennale Off Art Fair (2021), II Biennale di Fiber Art in Spoleto (2021), Fogli d'Arte at the Officina delle Arti in Cuneo (2018), ARTISSIMA Art Fair in Turin (2014), Brera / 59 - Rivoli in Paris (2014), and End in Nation at the Officine Creative Ansaldo in Milan (2013).

“Any material expedient I use is transformed into an expressive fragment useful to tell the transience of the work, like any other living form.”

C R E D I T S :

Photography of Michele Bruna's creative process: Roberto Dutto, Courtesy of the Artist

Quotes: Michele Bruna, Claudio Cravero

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