curated by Chiara Gatti with a critical text by Caterina Riva
The previously unreleased project Filira presents a new series of works by the Cagliari-based artist in a solo exhibition conceived as a single piece: an immersive environment where canvases and sculptures are interconnected in an organic yet unified vision.
Known for his exploration of ash created from burning plants in his garden in Calasetta as a plastic medium to create fragile sculptures, Biggio has recently experimented with a form of painting using the juice of phillyrea berries, which, when pressed, produce a dark ochre color with purplish hues.
Just as his series of ash sculptures reflect a genuine meditation on the cycle of life and elements, his painting transcribes the imprints of nature, capturing its transformation and decay. In the background, there is an allusion to a Greek myth. Filira, a nymph and daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, was loved by Cronus, from whom she attempted to escape by turning into a mare. But Cronus, transforming into a stallion, caught her and united with her. Filira bore a child, a hybrid creature, the centaur Chiron. Overcome by the sight of her son, she asked Zeus to transform her into a shrub that would bear her name, phillyrea. With the extract of the berries from this plant, Biggio traces on the canvas the vestiges of ephemeral vegetation.
A Biggio_portrait_ph Barbara Pau
Alessandro Biggio
(Cagliari, 1975), He lives and works between Cagliari and Calasetta. With a degree in economics, he is now dedicated to aesthetic research. In his artistic practice, the process of exploration and experimentation with materials plays a fundamental role. His sculptures, installations, and monotypes are always the result of layers of gestures and stages, where the final outcome represents a possible moment of balance—between control and letting go of the process, between dissolution and form. He has participated in solo and group exhibitions in both public and private spaces, including: the Gherdëina Contemporary Art Biennial, MAN Museum in Nuoro, Marino Marini Museum in Florence, Galleries of Modern and Contemporary Art in Cagliari, Galerie Stadtpark in Krems, Michela Rizzo Gallery in Venice, CLER in Milan, and Bartoli-Felter Foundation in Cagliari. In 2020, he was a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.
