Mark Handforth: After Nature

This is the third solo exhibition in Turin and the first hosted in the gallery space of Piazza Carignano.
The artist presents a new series of sculptures made specifically for the 18th century apartment, referring to the Baroque and post-Baroque preoccupation with natural forms evident in the painted ceilings, where plants morph into animals and snakes loop absurdly, their natural forms twisted to fit the demanding patterns of high bourgeois culture.

In After Nature, Handforth combines the element of natural inspiration with the constant reference to the urban landscape.  Light is another significant element in the artist’s practice, either cold and artificial when produced by neons or warm and immersive when colored candles are lit: it becomes a tangible element part of the plasticity of the sculptures, transforming and substantially altering the perception of their forms.