Massimiliano Pipolo WATERS | curated by SWING Design Gallery | Milan Design Week 2024 | Palazzo Litta | 5VIE
On the occasion of the eleventh edition of 5vie Design Week, WATERS, an installation by Massimiliano Pipolo curated by SWING Design Gallery, was presented in Palazzo Litta.
Massimiliano Pipolo’s “Ceramic calligraphy” draws inspiration from the investigation and observation of water shapes, as well as the fascination with its interaction with light and movement. The collection catalogues the names given to the multitude of forms that nature creates and shapes: the whirlpool, the cascade, the droplet, the rivulet, the wave. “I have been studying and taking in these forms for four years. I obsessively recreated them in ceramics, which let me form a kind of tactile, visual memory, which led to developing a material language. From then on, I watched an expressive handwriting come to life.” It can be perceived as a writing exercise, a long session of writing that is as automatic as it is intimate, in which the sculptures are shaped on the spot, built from what the sculpture itself dictates as it evolves.
In the spaces of Palazzo Litta, a body of ceramic works, a large wall sculpture, vases and a mirror – created exclusively for this edition of 5Vie.
The three ceramic hubs are articulated in an entirely neutral and rough habitat, divided into geometric shapes that support and create contrast with the organic nature of the installations and ceramic modules that make up WATERS.
REFLECTION – reflective mirror/sculpture in superior stoneware and mosaic of metal tiles ranging from chrome to satin in a color palette ranging from light gold and steel. Its frame is composed of superior hand-molded white stoneware. Waves, ripples and spirals of the ceramic blend into the design of the metal tiles which sends us reflections of images and shadows of light across its surface.
WATER EYE – wall sculpture in superior white pigmented and hand-majolica stoneware. The aqueous calligraphy here consists of about 20 units that draw a large circumference. SCULPTURES – group of vases/sculptures presented on the horizontal podiums of the installation.
Traditional techniques come together with a dual syncretism of materiality and abstraction. Massimiliano Pipolo gives expression to a sophisticated vocabulary of aesthetics, evoking the biomorphic plasticity of Lucio Fontana and Leoncillo Leonardi’s ceramic works. The organic volumes take on an abstract, otherworldly quality, ethereal yet sensual and vibrant.
Massimiliano Pipolo
Naples 1977. Lives and works in Milan.
In 2005 he graduated in Architecture in Paris at L’Ecole d’Architecture de Paris La Villette. From the same year he developed the visual identity, architectural concepts and scenography for brands such as Maison Martin Margiela, Prada, Versace, Kenzo. In 2015 he moved to Lisbon where he was selected for the degree course in ceramics of the Visual Art and Communication Centre of Lisbon (ARCO). In 2016 he founded in Paris his brand, Fornace Ceramics, of which he is Founder and Artistic Director. From 2020 Massimiliano Pipolo becomes a supplier of ceramics for all the Maison Valentino stores in the world.
EXHIBITIONS: 2024 ESSAYAGE, curated by Anja Matchenko, Villa Paradis, Marseille 2023 WATERS, SWING Design Gallery, Rome 2022 Black Forest/White Forest, La Casaforte, Naples 2021 Fuori Salone, Milan 2019 Feira Feita, Lisbon 2018 Maison et Object, Paris 2018 Festival Cumplicidades, Contemporary art and dance Festival, Lisbon.