About - Flavius Pisapia

Artist Statement

The forms and processes found in nature, and their influence on life stories, inspire my work. Since my early childhood, I have been moving home and country, collecting impressions of organic forms, which find their way into my art. From the subtle curve of an animal's back to the billowing waves of a hillside, part living creature and part elemental nature, my work often morphs elements together, giving life to mythological trees, sea-waves with human heads, singing spirals, and half-leaf, half-human reclining forms. As a sculptor, I try to bring into dialogue the personal narratives and the perceptions of nature I experience in a reflection on selfhood and environment.

We are shaped by the nature of the objects in our environment; the place we live can strongly influence how we see ourselves and how we interact with our surroundings. As a child growing up in the countryside, I was accustomed to finding only handmade things at home, from embroidered quilts and leather shoes to the soap we used. The slow-paced lifestyle in a family and village of craftsmen led me to my hands-on and nature-inspired approach to art. In past work as a sculpture therapist, I watched as clients recreated their self-image simply by modelling clay with their hands into spheres or cubes, working against the resistance of matter to make it their own, thereby integrating a newfound sense of self with their present life. I learned that stories shape us, but by working with our hands, we might reshape them. Reshaping the organic world into something fresh and equally "living" can be an empowering and very personal experience. The stories, moods, images, and memories from long walks, photographs, and observations often carry with them traces of the down-to-earth people I grew up with. In particular, the vitality, humour, and strength.

Working with different materials, I extract pure form elements such as convexes and concaves from figures and objects, freeing them from the prior associations and meaning. A flower or leaf becomes a source of surfaces varying in shape and movement which can combine to create something new. With a rounded starting point, I add on a variety of disparate angles, diverse curves, and twisting planes. I carve and smoothen the surfaces, bringing out particular tensions and transitions. The sculptural objects I create give spaces for the viewer to imagine their own worlds and create their meaning.

From the introduction of Metamorphosis by J. W. Goethe, it reads, “He came to see in the leaf the germ of a plant's metamorphosis—“the true Proteus who can hide or reveal himself in all plant forms”—from the root and stem leaves to the calyx and corolla, to pistil and stamens.” All forms are connected and can morph from one to the other. It is this relationship of form and process I try to imbue my art with, a malleability of identity inspired by nature.