Mimmo Paladino: every realization is imperfection

Abstract

The construction of a site-specific work made by Mimmo Paladino for the piazza Santa Croce in Florence in 2012 stands as an important testimony to a possible relationship between urban space and sacred symbols. The installation, commissioned by the International Biennal of Cultural and Landscape Heritage of Florence, is a monumental work: a giant cross made by arranging huge blocks of marble in front of the magnificent Franciscan cathedral of Florence. With this urban installation Mimmo Paladino faces once again the limit and the possibility of communication through symbols and images in contemporary art, exploring the vitality of figurative archetypes, including Christian ones. “The stones” - says the artist - “come from Carrara as they were dug out. Some will carry engravings and signs, others will become a sort of base for three metal sculptures: acircle and a star, that is two of the mazzocchi studied by Paolo Uccello, and an anthropomorphic stele that arises in dialogue with the statue of Dante. The passer-by cannot take in with a glance the form in its entirety: to discover it he will have to approach it and pass through it”.
It’s an archaic work that changes the perception of the square: it suggests and requires new perspectives, it balances the space inviting the viewer to take action and to experience a new urban place, recreating a Renaissance cantiere. The symbol of the cross, in the artist’s poetic vision, is an ancient sign with an “orthodox” meaning. It’s the cross of Jesus, it’s an ancient and modern sign that rewrites and generates a new public space, like a square: a place of civil life.