ART CITIES:London-Peter Marino
About ten years ago, Peter Marino was gripped by the discovery of a boat that sank in 350 BC off the Turkish coast en route from Greece to Italy. Original bronze works, more than two thousand years old, were recovered from the ancient vessel. Captivated by the idea of a material that outlasts entire civilizations, Marino began to work with bronze, combining the architectural with the ornamental, obdurate materiality with ephemeral gesture.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Gagosian Gallery Archive
Peter Marino in his solo exhibition “Fire and Water” at Gagosian Gallery in London presents a new series of sculpted bronze boxes. This series of cast bronze objects is Marino’s third, following two previous series produced in 2012 and 2014. The new boxes are finished in a variety of patination techniques: gilded, silvered, and blackened. In his new series of sculpted bronze boxes, Marino reveals his deep connection to the traditions of bronze metal work. In “Fire and Water”, 6 different boxes in limited editions feature designs inspired by organic and mythical forms such as water ripples, dragon scales and rough stone. The boxes, which are functional storage objects, and can take up to a year to produce, are handmade at the Atelier St. Jacques, part of the Fondation de Coubertin, the French national institution for crafts, manual work, and trades. As a passionate collector, Marino has also developed an extensive repository of bronzes. With an emphasis on Renaissance works, as well as French and Italian bronzes of the High Baroque, his collection includes masterpieces by some of the greatest exponents of the medium, including Giambologna, Pietro Tacca, Ferdinando Tacca, Giovanni Battista Foggini, Robert Le Lorrain, and Corneille van Clève. The refinement and intense emotion in many of the bronze statuettes in his collection is in contrast with the fluent solidity of Marino’s own creations. Marino’s first bronze boxes were shown at the 26th Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris in 2012, and featured 8 designs made in cast bronze and leather. The second series from 2014 featured 9 designs based on tree bark, reed, stone and other patterns.
Info: Gagosian Gallery, 17–19 Davies Street, London, Duration: 26/6-11/8/17, Days & hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.gagosian.com
