Antropomorfo 1 1963

Editor: Here we have Fabio de Sanctis’s "Antropomorfo 1" from 1963. It's a striking, almost surreal sculpture using mixed media, including wood and metal. The figure seems both contained and reaching out. How would you interpret the artist's choice of materials in conveying its meaning? Curator: I see a critical commentary on the industrialized body. The smooth, almost mass-produced feel of the wood juxtaposed with the rough texture of the metal suggests a tension between natural and artificial. De Sanctis uses the language of found objects and repurposed material, common to mid-century modernist practices. Editor: So, you're focusing on the tension inherent in the materials themselves. Is it about the process too, the act of assembling these disparate elements? Curator: Absolutely. Think about the labor involved in acquiring and manipulating these materials. What kind of cultural values are assigned to them? Wood, typically associated with craft and the domestic, here encases a form gesturing toward humanity, yet held together with the brutal fixings of industry. The hands reach out with an impossible rigidity. Editor: The hands definitely feel constrained rather than inviting. I guess I initially read that as a kind of loneliness. Curator: Consider the social and economic conditions of the time. Post-war Italy saw rapid industrialization. The anxieties of mechanization encroaching on human experiences are present in these choices, aren't they? We see how consumption reshapes our relationship to making. De Sanctis, instead of ignoring such factors, uses art to draw our attention to them. Editor: That makes so much sense now. It's less about a universal loneliness and more about a specific kind of alienation tied to industrial processes and the repurposing of materials. Curator: Precisely. Paying attention to materials and methods can help us understand the broader socio-political context. Editor: I see so much more depth now, recognizing how the artist's engagement with these materials speaks to a specific moment in history. Curator: It's all about unveiling the story within the making.