(Turin 1942–2023)
Sassi (da rotolo di “Tappeto Natura”), 1967, signed, dated and titled on the reverse, twice polyurethane and foam rubber laid down on wood, 202 x 202 x 20 cm

Provenance:
Sale Finarte Milan, 19 March 1988, lot 142 (certificate available)
European Private Collection

The work “Sassi – da rotolo di Tappeto Natura” by Piero Gilardi is a layer of carved polyurethane foam impregnated with pigments. This foam has been applied to two wooden panels, onto which further elements with naturalistic shapes, also in painted foam rubber, have been attached. The surface is all covered with stones, with leaves and remains of worn trunks dotted here and there. At first glance, it is as if a portion of a stony beach, with its black sandy base, had been lifted out of its context and transposed as-is – complete with thin twigs, the remains of salt-dried logs and windblown leaves – onto a board on the wall.

As the title suggests, this is a work born from the “reduction” of a larger work: a roll of “Tappeto Natura” made by Gilardi in 1967. He had started making this kind of work – portions of idealised, naturalistic settings, always lush and unspoilt – just two years earlier. His aim was to reflect on nature (and man’s relationship with it at the onset of the intense industrialisation of the second half of the last century) from a dual perspective: “the idea of synthetic material replacing nature, and thus an ‘industrialist’ discourse, and nostalgia for real nature” (conversation with Gianni Pozzi, 1994 in Piero Gilardi. La tempesta perfetta, Milan 2018, p. 110).

Today, this work is designed to be hung on the wall, but originally the Tappeti Natura – in the many different variations that the artist had created – were meant to be unrolled and spread out on the floor, so that the public could enjoy an all-encompassing experience that was multi-sensorial, tactile and visual alike. Gilardi had conceived these pieces so that visitors would not just be spectators but would interact with them by walking or lying on them. In fact, he had started to create the carpets with the intention that they would be experienced by viewers and represent a way of bringing art out of environments traditionally identified with the art system, such as galleries. The material was also chosen with this in mind: polyurethane is, in fact, not an artistically “noble” material, yet it turns out to be perfectly suited to rendering the effect desired by the artist. In terms of its form, on the other hand, what better object than a carpet – an item to be found in everyone’s home – could lend itself to Gilardi’s concept and be both artistic and decorative, as well as functional and lived-in.