Fino a qui – so far

When I began to work in ceramics, drawing  was all-important for me.

I enjoyed drawing on the white surface of majolica, smooth and absorbent. I used to inscribe any surface it offered, plates, cylinders, jugs, vases. Any shape responded to my need to express myself through my drawings.

Only later did I learn to communicate through shape and volume, I began to study the expressive possibilities of clay and modeling, more carefully.

At the same time I began to think about the surfaces of my pieces as abstract textures and I started to use pure pigment.

Although at this point I had begun to pay more attention to the technique itself, I never wanted to get bogged down in the technical research that often characterizes ceramics (obsessive attention to degrees centigrade and milligrams); an artist should use this time and energy on expressive and artistic research.

Since then, I have worked in different series; I have never wanted to concentrate on only one of the elements I was exploring. The presence or absence of drawing enabled me to communicate very different feelings and messages.

"Peoples and Disasters" is a series of large vases; they are completely covered in drawings of scenes from the bustle of urban life.

"Spy Game" is a group of modular pieces that satirises the excessive control of people and places by CCTV cameras.

"Experimental Vegetables" is a series of sculptures inspired by genetic research and the manipulation of the vegetable world. 

I am inspired by the everyday world and its absurd contradictions. I find it rather ironic to put my violent, grotesque drawing into people's houses, often disguised as pretty decorations.

I think majolica offers a unique medium where sculpture and drawing meet. I find it amazing to be able to express the cruel elements of the contemporary world through such an ancient technique.

Fausto SALVI