Gisella Ciullo - Sense Collection - Grapes I ^Sale

Sense Collection - Grapes I - Series 2022

My work is born from a strong bond with my homeland, the Salento region, in Southern Italy and tells of the love/hate relationship with my roots, from which it is impossible to separate myself, despite the many years spent away.
The Sense collection was born from an intimate reflection on the contradictions of this land and my complex relationship with it. At the base there is an imaginary that I have carried with me ever since from childhood: the gnarled hands of the women working in the fields, the grapes crushed with bare feet, the outstretched and strong arms of the farmers during the olive harvest, the juicy grapes, the enveloping scents of the fermenting must and the oil just extracted. Images deeply rooted in memory and identity, reworked by my subconscious as an expression of passion and love towards the territory, but also of enormous sacrifice and difficulty.
The collection is based on the use of waste wood from olive and vine cultivations , drawing on traditional techniques and at the same time combining natural and chemical, precious and poor materials.
I consider these creations as sensorial works since they aim to convey to the observer the vividness of those smells and flavors, while capturing the tactile pathos of wood, whose irregular and knotted shapes are inspired by the tormented bodies present in the works of the Viennese painter Egon Schiele. Shapes that contrast with the organic nature of the resin parts, which is blocked as if it were suspended in the act of pouring from the wood itself.

Materials

Vine wood, hemp threads, epoxy resin, acrylic paint,
oxidized silver, oxidized copper.

Dimensions

Wooden/resin part: 13 x 4 x 2.5 cm. Chain: 70cm