VERZURA
2017
Hand painted miniatures
Native flowers, leaves and fruits from India, RDC, Burkina Faso and Nicaragua,
representing four journeys undertaken by the person who commissioned the artwork,
as an immersive map of over 70 botanical species portrayed after a peculiar phytological study.
representing four journeys undertaken by the person who commissioned the artwork,
as an immersive map of over 70 botanical species portrayed after a peculiar phytological study.
Right click to enlarge
Verzura borrows the metaphor of the botanical world to speak also of creolization and reciprocity.
The Martinican writer É douard Glissant reworks the concept of Rhizome by Deleuze and Guattari,
renewing its meaning, in a declination Verzura tries to blend into a visual panorama.
With the word rhizome Glissant means a form of cultural contamination that develops and lives only thanks to the multi composition and the relationship with other cultures,
it’s thanks to its unpredictable proliferation that we get in contact with others.
Rhizomes live and grow thanks to their twine with other roots / cultures and the concept is opposing to the singular and linear roots whose self-preservation will sooner or later lead to self-destruction.
And I think we can say that is the "rhizome method" that has allowed us to arrive safe and sound
until today.
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An artwork's portion.
In Verzura lives a co-presence of different plants and each of them represents a different capacity of the flower or fruit to develop itself in a variety of environments and climates, each plant adapt itslef with its intelligence and ingenuity.
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Aubergine, India.
Curcuma, India.
Tabernanthe Iboga, RDC.
Mormodica, RDC.
Annona Squamosa, Burkina Faso.
Ackee, Burkina Faso.
Bombax Costatum, Burkina Faso
White Sapote, Nicaragua.
Heliconia Rostrata, Nicaragua.
Are just a bunch of the over 70 hand painted species.
Verzura is a reminiscence of Raffaello's astonishing fruits decoration in Villa Farnese in Rome.
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Some of the species
Lemon, Hippeastrum Minerva, Paniala, Curcuma, Jocote, Guanabana, Ochna Leptoclada,
Averrhoa Carambola (Starfruit), Marañon, Pithaya, Ananas, Coccinia, Ntindolo, Mango, Cacao, Gloriosa Lindenii.
![]()
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The Martinican writer É douard Glissant reworks the concept of Rhizome by Deleuze and Guattari,
renewing its meaning, in a declination Verzura tries to blend into a visual panorama.
With the word rhizome Glissant means a form of cultural contamination that develops and lives only thanks to the multi composition and the relationship with other cultures,
it’s thanks to its unpredictable proliferation that we get in contact with others.
Rhizomes live and grow thanks to their twine with other roots / cultures and the concept is opposing to the singular and linear roots whose self-preservation will sooner or later lead to self-destruction.
And I think we can say that is the "rhizome method" that has allowed us to arrive safe and sound
until today.
An artwork's portion.
In Verzura lives a co-presence of different plants and each of them represents a different capacity of the flower or fruit to develop itself in a variety of environments and climates, each plant adapt itslef with its intelligence and ingenuity.
Aubergine, India.
Curcuma, India.
Tabernanthe Iboga, RDC.
Mormodica, RDC.
Annona Squamosa, Burkina Faso.
Ackee, Burkina Faso.
Bombax Costatum, Burkina Faso
White Sapote, Nicaragua.
Heliconia Rostrata, Nicaragua.
Are just a bunch of the over 70 hand painted species.
Verzura is a reminiscence of Raffaello's astonishing fruits decoration in Villa Farnese in Rome.
Some of the species
Lemon, Hippeastrum Minerva, Paniala, Curcuma, Jocote, Guanabana, Ochna Leptoclada,
Averrhoa Carambola (Starfruit), Marañon, Pithaya, Ananas, Coccinia, Ntindolo, Mango, Cacao, Gloriosa Lindenii.
From up left to right
Maesobotrya bertramiana, Livistona rotundifolia, White Sapote, Strophanthus welwitschii, Pouteria sapota, Watsonia Amatolae, Malombo, Gloriosa Superba, Pithaya (unripe), Okra.
Click HERE to download the full list of native species represented in the artwork.
60 cm x 80 cm
a single fruit is on average 4 cm wide
Making of Verzura
apologies for the low res
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