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Viareggio, Italy, 2023-06-22 –
Luca Gnizio presents Forsoultree, his latest work blending the trunk of a centuries-old holm oak tree with the artist’s gestures to create a unique sensory experience in a prestigious setting inside the Monumental Park of Monte Ceceri, where Leonardo Da Vinci first experimented with his flying machine.
How a work of art is created – Forsoultree: new life from dead wood
The grounds of Villa San Michele, where the work is sited, are part of the Monumental Park of Monte Ceceri. During the restoration of footpaths through two and a half hectares of beautiful woodland, Frontera Gardens informed the managers of the Villa that they had come across the large trunk of a centuries-old holm oak tree that had likely fallen during a storm.
The extraordinary occasion and captivating setting led to the idea of involving the unique talent of Luca Gnizio, an artist capable of grasping the essence of the material and transforming the trunk into something new and rare.
Gnizio is an eco-social artist who faithfully adheres to the “three Rs” – reduce, reuse, and recycle. Thanks to his inspiration and determination, he manages to create new levels of beauty, content, and meaning out of what would normally be considered waste. Using powerful creative gestures, the artist invites us into the tree where the sap once flowed to touch the wood, to smell its fragrance, and to feel the energy of the holm oak.
There, you can lie down and contemplate the view overlooking Florence, or the rocky wall of the old quarry inside Leonardo’s wood from two seats, one facing the valley and the other uphill. A deep basin carved into the trunk provides ample seating and an opportunity to connect with nature from the heart of the tree.
“Forsoultree speaks of beauty and respect and reminds us that nothing belongs to us on this earth, where we are simply passing guests,” explains Luca Gnizio. “By physically entering the tree, we can establish an intimate and sensory dialogue with that part of us that is innate.”
Luca Gnizio’s creative flair, from the conception of Forsoultree to its completion, has been captured on film by director and filmmaker Fabio Bastianello.
“The real luxury of our times is the chance to observe the generosity and beauty of nature, and to enjoy the infinite opportunities it offers us,”concludes the artist. “Forsoultree takes us into the depths of things, where primitive sensations are born, and connects us through our senses with a piece of eternity.”
About Luca Gnizio
Luca Gnizio, born in 1981 in Lodi, created a new field of professional expertise in 2009: the ECOSOCIAL artist, a pioneering approach that is now internationally recognized. Thanks to his artistic and technical training as an industrial designer, and his commitment to safeguarding the environment, Gnizio’s works made with recycled industrial waste materials have given rise to an innovative artistic trend that embodies ecological and social purposes. Taking the principle of the “three Rs” – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – to a new level, Gnizio’s innovative approach is not confined to an in-depth study of the individual company concerned. By underlining the importance of the wider community, he has successfully grouped and involved local and multinational companies together with community associations to bring about ecological circular economy projects, and hence his ECOSOCIALLY neologism.
Gnizio’s projects include his Levi Jeans project, which involved 300 shops and associations for young people with disabilities, prisoners, and the unemployed; the Cosmave project for recycling marble dust, once again involving community associations and over 80 companies, and the joint BMW and SGL Carbon Group project, from which Gnizio has obtained two of his patents for ecological innovation:
FORSOUL – The first ever crystal ball incorporating fabric (recycling of carbon fibre), now on permanent display in the prestigious Murano Glass Museum.
FORBLACKLIGHT– From the recycling of carbon, Gnizio obtained the first water-repellent fabric to become transparent, earning the artist the “Eccellenze della Lombardia 2019” award and a place in the prestigious Adi Design Index 2019.
Since May 2018, Gnizio has exhibited “DannunziEco: l’impuro dannunziano” in the Vittoriale degli Italiani museum, a monumental work defiant in its use of scraps of dirty paper obtained during the restoration of the historic walls of the Vittoriale complex.
For three years beginning in January 2021, Gnizio’s work has been on exhibit overseas through the diplomatic-consular network and the Italian Cultural Institutes with the itinerant exhibition, 3CODESIGN, called by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and curated by Silvana Annicchiarico.
https://www.lucagnizio.com/
