The work of Sebastiano Dammone Sessa, mostly focused on the stratification of materials, touches deep roots, sensations, discomforts, tracks that convey the meaning of passage. Figures gradually appear as the artist carries out his work of driving nails into a board, with varying degrees of incisiveness. The abstraction that appears recall maps or paths that, little by little, through the single laborious procedure of adding each nail, paced by the sound of the hammer, retrace life experiences or memories, as if to record every cranny dug into the rock by the wind. A sculpture that is forged by the artist invisibly inside the board by a thousand nails that form its structure. This procedure links back to the Italian artistic tradition, with fluent forms in which the corners of the surface are softened through a process of smoothing that systematically reappears in the work. The colors are intentionally neutral, with an antique taste that at the same time gauges a presence, namely that which defines the play between light and surface in the creations of the artist.

A path that winds between the classic character of the origins of the materials utilized and the final result. The application of rust on paper conveys old memories – the time that corrodes and consumes the iron to the point of transforming it – that are again tracks or paths that are not fully controlled by the artist, who complies with the destiny of the material used. “Tracks” that nurture themselves and gain force by gathering together. All the senses are engaged in the work of the artist, even touch through the inserted spines, and the deafening noise of the nail as it is driven into the wood. Once created, the work lies silent but still contains all this background, and the observer remains aware of the painstaking process carried out by the artist to immerse himself in the work. The nails are driven one by one, with woe and wonder, and each of them represents a point, a moment, the individual element.

Traiettorie is the first solo show at the gallery by Sebastiano Dammone Sessa, an Italian artist born in Montreux in 1981, who lives and works in Cenadi, in the province of Catanzaro. Selected solo exhibitions: MARCA, Museo delle Arti di Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy; Palazzo della Corte di Noci, Bari, Italy; Palazzo Stagliano di Chairavalle C.le, Catanzaro, Italy.