Scalea (mi rfea pra), 1968

In keeping with a line of research he has elaborated since the emergence of Arte Povera, Pier Paolo Calzolari sets in motion processes of transformation that are capable of sublimating the physicality of material. Moss, honey, tobacco, salt, ice, wax, felt, lead, light, and sound, but also people and animals are used as elements for the construction of an “ideal house,” a real and symbolic place where the artist’s creativity unfolds. Offering access to this house, in Scalea (mi rfea pra) (Monumental Staircase – mi rfea pra), 1968, Calzolari develops a work starting in the form of three steps. An image of the ascent toward consciousness, they remain close to everyday reality through the words “mi rfea pra,” fragments that relate to a nursery rhyme in dialect. [..]