Wood and marble compared: in Pietrasanta, the double solo exhibition of Bruno Walpoth and Alex Rane

The Access Gallery in Pietrasanta reopens on July 4 inaugurating a new exhibition that compares two important contemporary sculptors, Bruno Walpoth (Bressanone, 1959) from South Tyrol and Alex Rane (New York, 1986) from the United States. The exhibition is titled Bruno Walpoth and Alex Rane. I Will Come out Again and is an in-depth look at the profile of the two artists, realized through an exhibition of more than twenty works including wood, bronze and marble sculptures and drawings on paper.

The exhibition, which runs through Aug. 10, tells, proceeding by similarities and differences, what art represents for the two sculptors, who agree on one point: it allows them to express their energies, stories, spirituality and, ultimately, their identity. The two artists pour themselves into their works: whether it is a lonely moment or one full of experiences and emotions, both find themselves within their sculptures. Finally, it is the viewers’ gaze, as it interacts with the works, that allows the artists to emerge anew. Hence, the title of the exhibition I Will Come Out Again (“I Will Come Out Again”).

The exhibition thus presents two contemporary figurative artists sculpting raw material. Walpoth’s sculptures, mainly made of wood, are static and remote but endowed with a strong charisma, which through stillness move the viewer’s interest. Rane’s marble sculptures pose in expressive attitudes; the curved bodies and tilted heads openly express a wide range of emotions. The artist leaves some areas of the marble intentionally rough and contrasts them with areas where the forms are more complete and defined. The exaggerated shapes and the use of contrasting marks on the surface allow the sculptural process to be revealed.

“The moment that interests me most,” Walpoth explains, “is when a model is absorbed in his thoughts and becomes almost absent.... In my works I try to fix this moment because it is the most intimate in every human being, when one is lost in a secret, entirely personal dimension.” The intent of the Brixen sculptor is not to tell any story to his audience: what matters is to push them to focus on a precise moment. As is the case, for example, in the work on display, David II, in walnut, from 2019, which depicts a young man with a seemingly expressionless gaze, but in reality completely collected in his own inner world. “It is in the result, in the finished sculpture,” Walpoth continues, “that the viewer is able to see himself.”

Alex Rane, on the other hand, takes a different approach and seeks a different result. If Walpoth does not want to tell a story, Rane instead wants to communicate with the viewer. “My story, my emotions and my thoughts,” says the American artist, “seek their way into the work through the process of creating it, then transforming the result into a form of communication.” This path, which brings the emotions from the sculptor into the sculpture and from the sculpture to the audience, is well represented in the exhibition, by the 2019-20 statuary marble work Negative Capability, which in its twisted, dynamic pose and hollowed, scarred body becomes an incredible expressive tool.

Completing the exhibition is a downloadable digital catalog with images of the works on view and updated bio-bibliographical apparatus. The exhibition is open Monday and Tuesday from 6 to 11 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to noon and 6 to 11 p.m., Friday through Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to noon and 6 to midnight. Admission is free. To learn more you can visit the Access Gallery website.

Pictured: left, Alex Rane, Crying idol (2020; statuary marble on bardiglio base, 63 x 14 x 15 cm); right, Bruno Walpoth, Madaba (2020; walnut wood, 76 x 39 x 34 cm)

Wood and marble compared: in Pietrasanta, the double solo exhibition of Bruno Walpoth and Alex Rane

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