Spacex (http://spacex.org.uk)

 

 Salvatore Arancio An Arrangement of the Materials Ejected1 October - 26
November 2011


Spacex is proud to present the first UK solo exhibition by Italian artist
Salvatore Arancio. The show comprises new and recent work spanning a range
of media including etching, video, animation, collage and sculpture.

A newly commissioned installation centered around the state of suspension
between the natural and fictional world is presented on entry to the
exhibition. The piece is inspired by the geological phenomenon called
folded strata and the studies of 17th century scholar Athanasius Kitcher,
concerning the cross section of the Earth conducted in order to prove the
existence of subterranean fires. This piece develops Arancio’s interest in
challenging conventional ideas of beauty in nature and their relation with
science with an emphasis on construction and staging.

A selection of drawings and etchings focus on imagery recurrent in 19th
century geological illustrations. These take found images and use their
literal meaning as a point of departure, transforming into poetic and
visionary interpretations of nature. A new series of monotype prints and a
sculptural piece depict images of mandrake roots. The root’s lysergic
powers and uncanny man-like shape have been the source for the creation of
many myths through the ages. Arancio juxtaposes images that are at once
disquieting, yet seductive.

The split screen video installation Shasta (2011), originally shot on Super
8 film, takes inspiration from a Native American tribe’s account of the
creation of Mount Shasta in California. The timeless visual and sound
elements of the work stimulate ideas of narrative and storytelling in order
to create a sense of awe seen as a metaphor for human inefficacy against
the forces of nature.

Arancio has created new work for the exhibition that deliberately creates a
connection between Spacex and its natural surroundings. The large print
Bowerman’s Nose (2011) depicts a rock formation composed of stacks of
weathered granite that can be found on Dartmoor, situated on the northern
slopes of Hayne Down near Manaton in Devon. Fascinated by the popular myths
attached to the stone and its alleged past as a place of veneration,
Arancio’s manipulation takes it out of context. Here it is presented as a
mysterious monolith, a sculptural form both impenetrable and remote.

Another example is the photo etching entitled An Active Volcanic Summit
Emitting Steam and a Strong glow in the Valley of Stones (2011), created by
manipulating an image originally found as an engraved plate in Henry
Boswell’s book: Antiquities of England & Wales, first published in 1786.
The image illustrated the Valley of Rocks, near Lynton in north Devon, the
origins of which have been attributed to an act of the Devil according to
legend. The initial empirical value and teachings of the image, through
Arancio’s intervention, have been replaced with a visionary, gloomy and
anguished horizon, it’s undefined temporality seems to remain equidistant
from a beginning and an end.

An Arrangement of the Materials Ejected develops Arancio’s interest and
investigation into ideas of nature and it’s merging with science, myths and
legends along with its relationship to the mystical.

ENDS

For further information or high resolution images please contact Spacex
Press and Marketing Officer, Rowan Green tel: 01392 431 786, email:
rowan@spacex.org.uk (mailto:rowan@spacex.org.uk)

Image: Bowerman’s Nose, 2011, Salvatore Arancio. Courtesy of Federica
Schiavo Gallery, Rome

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Open Tues - Sat, 10am - 5pm, admission free spacex.org.uk

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