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Sculptor Andrea Davansati magically transforms marine life forms into stainless steel art
By Thom Loree
Nickel Magazine, December 2007 -- The strange beauty of algae, larvae,
paramecia, microscopic seaweed and other denizens of the deep assume gleaming new forms in the hands of
Italian sculptor and designer Andrea Forges Davanzati. These creatures of abstraction live and move again
within the solid yet graceful arcs of stainless steel.
Davanzati, 44, lives and works in his native Milan, as well as in Cagliari, an important port on the
island of Sardinia. His first solo exhibit took place in 1991 in Milan, where has also taught steel and metal
work, as well as jewelry design, at the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti.
He draws artistic inspiration from the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the eastern coast of Sardinia, where fresh
ideas are suggested by the forms of shells, sponges, seaweed, and a multitude of plants and animals. The key
ingredient in transforming these delicate life forms into permanent art is stainless steel, specifically
1.4301 (S30400)
and 1.4306 (S30403),
which have a nickel content of 8 to 10.5% .
“I work with stainless steel for the obvious reason that it resists adverse atmospheric conditions, such
as rain, but primarily because of the way it reflects light,” the sculptor says. “I love the way it conveys
subtle and varied gradations of reflectivity when polished to a mirror finish. Light is the chief
consideration in creating different surfaces such as matte or mirror; to me, these are not unlike the effects
achieved by drawing on paper with charcoal.”
Stainless steel also can be cut and formed easily, Davanazati explains, and it machines and joins better
than other materials, all of which reflects its structural integrity.
“When I bend stainless steel with my hands or with machines, I can keep a regular progressive curve.
Stainless possesses something akin to molecular lines that are all oriented in the same direction.” This is
not the case with iron, he points out, which does not have what he calls “nervosa,” that is, a nervous and
sinewy inner tensile quality. “It’s as if stainless steel were always in a state of tension.”
The artist’s most famous and spectacular piece, Paramecium, is in fact a mobile. “In this, as in all my
sculptures, I try to create movement through touch.” The work, which won first prize at an art competition in
Pavia, northern Italy, consists of various self-balancing steel tubes that can be assembled in different
sizes.
Another piece that suggests a living object is the Rotiffero, which its creator describes as his first
“balanced form.” It consists of two rings and three rectilinear segments. With a gentle tug, the piece
wobbles back and forth until it finds its centre of gravity and rests.
Limulus (Latin for horseshoe crab) is no less renowned. The 3-metre-long stainless steel form was created
using metal inert gas (MIG) and tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding.
Ciliati is the name applied to various mobile sculptures made of stainless steel tubes with casted lead
inside. The Ciliati represent a microscopic seaweed found in salt water.
Davanzati also used stainless steel for one of his larger architectural pieces, the 5-metre-tall Sestante.
It represents the sextant, a navigational instrument, and is on display in the town of Cesano, near
Milan.
The sculptor stays in close contact with Centro Inox, the Italian stainless steel development association,
also in Milan, which advises him on technical matters.
As it happens, Luciano Fassina, a consultant to the Nickel Institute who works out of Centro Inox, is one
of Davanzati’s many admirers. “I’m astonished at his ability to explore natural organic forms and transform
them,” Fassina says. “Of course, as a contemporary artist, he also has to work with the resources of his day,
and stainless steel is clearly the material that suits Andrea’s artistic interpretations and assures
durability in time.”
Davanzati continues to transform ephemeral abstract structures into polished lines, highlighted in the
elegant glimmerings of stainless steel.
Thom Loree is a Toronto-based freelance writer.
Photos: Andrea Forges Davanzati
View Video:
7 MB Quicktime Video of Paramecium
2.5 MB Quicktime Video of Paramecium
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