Projects for Mensano and Casole d'Elsa, Ayse Erkmen, 1998

Ayse Erkmen was invited by curators Florian Matzner and Angela Vettese to participate in the third edition of Arte all’Arte with works created directly and exclusively for the occasion.

"The artist chose a material typical of the Val d’Elsa, alabaster, to create four chairs designed by Italian designers and originally produced with furnishing materials: two armchairs (Sacco by Teodoro, Paolini and Gatti, and Donna by Gaetano Pesce), one chair (First by Michele de Lucchi), and a sofa (Elogio by Afra and Tobia Scarpa).

The first three sculptures were placed in the village of Mensano, the last one in front of the Town Hall of Casole d’Elsa. The works are rich in conceptual and sensory short circuits: first of all, the alabaster, which was colored using traditional pigmentation techniques, resulted in a material far less diaphanous and much more vibrant than it is usually considered to be. The contrast is evident when comparing the windows of the small Romanesque church of Mensano—thin slabs of white alabaster—and the imposing presence of the revisited Donna by Pesce.

Moreover, the viewer is faced with objects that they have been accustomed to considering soft, elastic, and deformable—as in the case of the Sacco—which are instead presented here in a hard and inelastic version. Furthermore, this material, which has often been cited as a symbol of purity and detachment from the senses, takes on a living, carnal appearance thanks to the intense pigmentation, with the veins suggesting those of a living body.

Florian Matzner, Arte all’Arte III, 1998