Materia prima: Lucia Leuci at Adolfo Pini Foundation

“Materia prima” solo show by Lucia Leuci
curated by /77

Adolfo Pini Foundation presents Materia prima, a solo show by Lucia Leuci, installed inside the glass cabinets of the house-museum and curated by /77. The project was realized thanks to Adrian Paci’s supervision, who made the encounter between the Foundation and /77 possible – two different realities drawn together by the common will to promote young artists.

Lucia Leuci’s approach does not simply consist in conceiving her works exclusively for the spaces of this house-museum, but also and mainly in drenching them in the intimate atmosphere, the precise identity and the history of this place. Glass cabinets are meant to preserve and display objects, and to create visual connections between different environments. Lucia Leuci does not alter their function: on the contrary, she uses their aesthetic qualities to present a series of sculptures, thus creating an unitary installation. The cabinets in what once was the dining room of the house are re-imagined as self-sufficient islands, in which the artist sets up a new group of sculptures made up of both synthetic and organic materials.

The main focus of this process is on the dichotomy between nature and representation of the real, bound together by a gastronomical lexicon. The history of this house has seen dedication, love and care for details. It’s this precise care for details that is represented in these artworks and dishes, thought as artifacts. The presence of degradable materials in Lucia Leuci’s sculptures lets time play a significant role in this exhibition, binding each single visit to the Foundation to a precise moment in these artworks’ lifespan. This mix is what’s really fundamental in the artist’s research, because of its ability to stimulate a sort of visceral relationship with the artwork and to give the viewer memories of a past that’s not only visual but also tactile and emotional. Lucia Leuci’s artwork is an act of sublimation: pushing materials to their limits as she brings them apart and, at the same time, closer to their essence. The organic materials and the unedible objects become one, the compositions become fetishes, objects for a sensorial stimulation, soaked in a composite sensuality. Each composition is not only thought for its aesthetical qualities, but also to bring forward a precise harmony of tastes, each cabinet containing an object we crave for, doomed to perish before ever being fully enjoyed. Thus, a dish becomes a space of its own, from which a reflection on an humanized aesthetic is born – a personal and positive expression of the kind of food design that has gradually led people away from what should be the most natural of all behaviors: eating.

Lucia Leuci: Materia Prima is on show at Fondazione Adolfo Pini, Milano from May 19th to July 14th, 2017.

The dish compositions were made in collaboration with Sara Nicolosi.