Sanlorenzo with Arcangelo Sassolino at Art Basel in Basel 2022

Sanlorenzo returns to Basel to take part in Art Basel, the leading international fair for modern and contemporary art, from 16 to 19 June. Sanlorenzo has been host partner since 2018, presenting a unique, customised project in collaboration with an international contemporary artist.

At Art Basel in Basel 2022, Sanlorenzo presents the work Tempo Piegato by Arcangelo Sassolino , one of Italy's leading contemporary artists, who has just represented Malta at the 59th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia 2022 with the immersive installation Diplomazija astuta. The project presented in Basel, was conceived especiall y for Sanlorenzo, and is curated by Flash Art
, the first and most important contemporary art magazine in Europe.

"I wonder what is the point of still producing forms: what is the point of working on sculpture? I build machines and devices with the intention of revealing the potential that is inherent in the nature of each material".
Arcangelo Sassolino

Tension, constriction, fragility and performativity of matter are the axioms from which Tempo Piegato takes shape, a work aimed at probing the ultimate limit of resistance and, more generally, of the possibilities of the future. The sheet of glass is in fact caught in the palpitation that precedes the imminent destruction of the material, at the moment of its maximum stress, thus manifesting a state of suspension and imponderability. It is precisely in this being in conflict between two forces that its condition of existence is translated. The contradiction is accepted and in this way an ecological thought is established that is capable of overcoming the dichotomies of strength and fragility, destruction and resistance. The work thus meets Sanlorenzo's vision: a perfect synthesis of contemporary beauty, design and advanced technology.

Arcangelo Sassolino's visual vocabulary is at once ethological and mechanised, poetic and menacing, and pushes materials beyond their physical limi ts to demonstrate Modernism's process of becoming and non - becoming.

His kinetic sculptures employ industrial materials and technologies to study the harrowing and destructive consequences of contemporary society, which in its self - sustaining shuns empathy and solidarity. Bringing together the experience of industrial and mechanical engineers, Sassolino's works engage the viewer in the tension and anticipation inherent in the visceral aesthetic language of his sculptures.

The artist works with Galleria Continua, San Gimigniano;Les Moulins, Beijing, Havana, Rome, Sao Paulo and Paris;Galleria dello Scudo, Verona;A Arte Invernizzi, Milan.