Text of FotoSculptuRes

Last Updated on Sunday, 23 November 2014 12:12 Written by carlo Tuesday, 12 June 2012 15:05

The FotoSculptuRes are originated from the photographic project "The Tales of Majim".
These objects are made by transparent resin and photographs, plus other materials: mainly stones but also fossils, wood, steel, Plexiglas, animals, chalk and terracotta. In the project “Majim” the resin always represent the water.
There is also a stand-alone series named: "The Poison? We are."

To be honest, all these works are not very appreciable through the “photo-gallery” because they are three-dimensional objects with a certain "weight" and a strong presence”, that’s the reason why, you should see them live, turn around or take them in your own hands, you should illuminate them in multiple ways and concentrate your attention upon their little details.

For who is interested in the meaning that the Author gives to his work, there are final explications just below the asterisks.


Majim 000 series: Tondi. The works are created using photographs, fossils, natural stones and transparent resin, they look alike to a little round table very easy to fold it and to carry it away; but the plan can be detached and hung like a "Tondo" (in a pictorial sense).
The diameter of the “Tondo” is about 13,77 inches / 35 cm and his weight is about 4.62 lb / 2.1 kg, the overall height is 21,65 inches / 55 cm, and the total weight is about 11.46 lb / 5.2 kg.
Under the round top, just over the signature and the date of creation, there is the list of materials used and a sealed envelope in which is contained the "first interpretation" given by the Author.
As you can see in the photo-gallery, there are two very different ways to look at the work: the first way is to look at them with the light from above (it is recommended a white and strong light enough) ,and the second one is with the  lateral light that reveals the internal bubbles of them.

Sample description of Tondo n°3
Tondo/reading-table n°3 – The Knowledge, January 2012.
Folding table with three legs and a round wood top. It has a diameter of 13.97 inches / 35.5 cm; After my work, some details were left on it:
1 - At the bottom of the work there is the  photograph "Serra 29" (from de series “The Tales of Majim”) in round format of about 13.38 inches / 34 cm, with the background color reversed.
2 - About 50.72 US fluid ounces / 1500 cc of the best epoxy resin molded  in four layers. The total thickness is about 0.59 inch / 15 mm.
3 - Two stones from the Tuscan coast.
4 - A pliocenic fossil mollusk.
5 –155 photos in sizes of about 0.27”x 0.43” / 7x11 mm and 0.39”x 0.59” / 10x15mm. In the bottom layer there are 28 photos of three different subjects taken from "The Tales of Majim".In the second layer of resin, there are 127 double photos (95 of eight different subjects taken from "The Tales of Majim" and 32 double photos of a single subject from the series "Flwater").
6 –Gas bubbles and micro-bubbles were deliberately positioned in the various layers of resin.



Majim 100 series: Tritticiritratti-Triptychportraits. They are created with photos and resin upon a Plexiglas base of 7.08”x 3.14”x 0.78” / 18x8x2 cm. They have three components each others: the first one has a wavy surface and it represents an original photo, not altered in a absolutely way; in the second component ,the eyes of the person portrayed are inserted into two elements present in the original photo; while the third component has calm surface but the photography portrait is fragmented.
On the back side, just besides the signature and the date of creation, there is a passage of a poem, with impromptu variations, written for "The Tales of Majim" and inspired by the subject being photographed.

Majim 200 series: In this moment we meet... Two pieces of wood (transported by rivers) intersect or touch themselves on a glass or plexi base with resin and photographs (one big photo under the base and some micro-photos in the resin).
Example: the work n°202 has dimensions of 33x33x20 cm and weighs 2,3 kg.



Majim 300 series: Seas. They are created with photographs, fossils, natural stone and resin upon a base of wood and steel. The standard set has LED lights inside the resin. The LEDs have white light or color changing light (it is recommended to choice the colors white, green or aquamarine). They all have height adjustable feet.
All the Sea models can be "flooded" with distilled water  and one or two paper boat models  made of plastic can flow upon it ,with a background photo of butterflies on the sky..
Standard series. These works size is about 11.81”x 11.81” x 1.18” / 30x30x3 cm, and their weight is about 6.61 lb / 3 kg. Like the “Tondi”, they can be watched with the light from above (it is recommended a white and strong light enough) or with the internal LED light, that reveals the bubbles inside of them.
Out series. In the photo-gallery you can see a model of Sea that measuring 2.62’x 1.64’x 1.57” / 80x50x4 cm and his weight is about 39.68 lb / 18 kg It has an iron base of 2.42 feet high / 74 cm, and its weight is about 22.04 lb / 10 kg, with height adjustable legs.

The Poison? We are. These works are blocks formed by a transparent resin (it  represents both the water and the air) and they contain a mouse and also one or more children statues made of terracotta-chalk-resin; furthermore they contain  some photos of ants on the bottom of the work and some photos of small flying insects. This artwork is located in a base of steel or both steel and wood.

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If you are interested in the meaning that the Author given to his work,

you can read the following texts.

For the Majim/Tondi series.

Here is the Author’s first interpretation contained  in the sealed envelope under the Tondo n°3.

The Stone of the Knowledge is clear and oval (better if you think to an elliptic one) and it represent Kepler, Popper, the Real Science and the Democracy.
Otherwise the Stone of the Ignorance and the False Knowledge  represents Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy, the Presumption and the Dictatorship.
But Life is Everything and the Fossil Stone represents it.
The gas bubbles symbolize the stars.The lateral light shows a few hundred stars in the lower layer of the work, a few thousand micro-stars that forms drawings in the second and third layer, and finally we see other stars and micro-stars arise from the photos placed in the deep layer.

In the photographs there are flashes of light from the Sun star, like the Light on the first day of the Biblical creation.
The photo "Serra 9" represents the writing, who makes us conscious of being conscious; "Vezza 40" - the human face - represents the mental, spiritual and creative Homo (the positive Homo); "Giardino 22 "- the stylized man - represents the complete Homo: flesh and spirit, the good and the evil.

The series "The Poison? We are." is inspired by the problem of human overpopulation on the Earth. Konrad Lorenz wrote: " Today all the humanity’s  problems are created or significantly aggravated by overpopulation...”.
In the work that you see in the photo-gallery, the mouse is the animal which may overpopulate its environment, which is always followed by immense suffering and die-offs.
The child (statue by terracotta colored with an acrylic color) is gray. The gray resemble the color of the mouse and furthermore it has  no "race color"; he died poisoned (bled from the ear) and the mouse can also died poisoned.
But the Human Race is the most powerful poison; we are upsetting every biological and ecological balance of the planet we live on, mostly with a monstrous overpopulation.
The ants will survive: they are beginning to eat the rat and also other dead animals (spiders, terrestrial crustaceans and a mosquito); also small flying insects will survive in the air.