Le mani 

Fausto Melotti's mixed media sculpture, "Le Mani," presents a striking tableau within a contained space, a box lined with contrasting colours and textures. The interplay between the rough materiality of the box and the delicate representation of hands evokes a sense of tension. The composition is divided into distinct elements—a pair of hands nestled in a red form and an abstract face atop metal rods. These are arranged almost as characters within a stage set. This deliberate arrangement invites a semiotic reading, where each element functions as a sign. The hands, for example, might signify creation or vulnerability. Melotti's use of contrasting materials—the coarse box, the smooth hands, and the rusted metal—further enriches the sculpture's thematic complexity. It destabilizes fixed meanings, offering instead a meditation on the relationship between form and content, the tangible and the symbolic. This piece challenges us to consider how art can function as both object and signifier.