What does ‘to monumentalise’ mean in the context of the digital age? What elements of the classical tradition fundamentally transformed beneath the weight of the technological and communicational revolutions of the last decades?
These are some of the fundamental questions asked by Alexander Valetto in artistic research practice, which spans multiple media. Trained as a sculptor, architect and installation artist, the question of ‘forms’ follows his inquiry into the contemporaneity of aesthetic production. Plato’s allegory of the cave is probably the most effective metaphor in Western philosophical and religious thought, which brought us to the point where we are discussing the essence of aesthetics as a category of a filtering material object. How does the material conversation of the ideological and religious semiotics with the mathematical minimalism and idea of perfection of the Renaissance reflect the contemporaneity of the sculptural medium? This fundamental question rests at the centre of Valetto’s inquiry.
His works and projects could be analysed from the perspectives of the material, semiotic content and socio-aesthetic context.
Concerning materiality, the language of art as an expression of the ultimate value of its time is specifically interesting to reflect on through Valetto’s practice. In his sculptural works, Alexander blends the canons of religious Renaissance sculpture and their material equivalence in today’s world. While Panthelic marble and porphyry reflected the semiotically highest value in the Italian Renaissance (as the representation of purity and power, respectively), in the contemporary context, the material symbolism shifted towards plexiglass, cardboard, plastic and rare metals necessary for the production of the building materials and microchips. This gesture emphasises strong transhistoricity and breaks through the linearity of tradition, as presented within the narrative of art history.
The semiotic context of the themes in sculpture is another paramount aspect in the concept of ‘monument’ as the artist practically tackles it. He addressed the figures of Mary and Magdalene in the religious and ritual imagery and sculpture as a recurrent motif. Through casting them using the contemporary language of technology – 3D printing, for example – and removing the ‘author’ as an immediate worshipper, craftsman and ‘hand’ of the divine, the artist highlights the individuality of the sign as an immaterial object of significant power. This practice might be seen as creational deconstruction through re-materialising the context in the new, unexpected and seemingly irrelevant matter.
Last, by not least, a socio-aesthetic context of the prevalent cultural discourse completes ‘the trinity’ of the critical sculptural practice of Valetto. The process of making the object is marred with the social relations that constitute its importance, value and historical relevance – the conscious engagement of the artist with the invisible surrounding plays a vital role in shaping the artist’s practice.