Known for his groundbreaking works such as tattooed classical sculptures and functional marble boats, Viale challenges perceptions of this timeless material. His art explores the duality of permanence and ephemerality, breathing new life into a medium often associated with the past. By blending classical aesthetics with modern subcultures, he creates pieces that are both provocative and deeply symbolic. In this interview, Viale shares his insights on the transformative power of art, the cultural narratives behind his creations, and his vision for the future of sculpture. Through his innovative approach, he invites us to reconsider the boundaries of art and imagination.
Your work transforms marble into forms that evoke both tradition and modernity. What inspires you to challenge marble’s conventional perception?
Marble is a material that gives you energy, that responds. I see in matter a possibility for change and transformation. The sculpted marble transforms from a shapeless block into a figure – tire or fruit box – with the same methodology that millennia ago led the first man to represent an image on the rocks of the cave.
The metamorphosis of materials is the key to all our progress, not only in the artistic field. The transformation generates energy and enchantment because it simulates the most ancestral forces of nature, inevitably bringing the artefact into another dimension, making it lose objectivity: a work works if it has a soul.
I try to exalt the potential of the material, through surprising juxtapositions of different kinds or by dissimulating specific functions and qualities, always adapting it to the demands of my imagination.My purpose is the celebration of the formal properties of the stone and the conceptual and figurative properties of human imagination.
How did the idea of creating a functional marble boat like “Ahgalla” originate, and what did it symbolize for you?
The idea for this work, made twenty years ago, came from the definition of marble in the encyclopedia: “the sedimentation of hundreds of tons of shells on the seabed” which, in the process of metamorphosis, have crystallized and become marble.
My idea therefore was to return the marble to its origin: after having done a flotation test with a shell I made, I contacted a naval engineer friend of mine and asked him if it was possible to build a boat. He told me that it was, as long as she was very light and at the same time had very thin walls. The only unknown was the engine, because it could have transmitted such vibrations as to crack the hull. So I didn’t realize the feasibility of the work until I put the boat in the water and started the engine.
This made me understand that it is possible to go beyond the preconceptions we have about things.
It is the work that best represents me. I believe that one of the purposes of Art is this: to make the inventor, the artist and also the spectator aware of the duality of an element, its image and its discovery.
Your tattooed sculptures bridge classical art with contemporary subcultures. What do tattoos represent in the context of timeless marble figures?
Few years ago, I met a tattooist of Russian origins whose hands were full of odd symbols. I felt really curious and I asked him to draw a sculpture. I imagined a life-size Michelangelo’s David, fully tattooed with Russian criminal tattoos. I am interested in the symbolic tattoo, I am not attracted to decorative forms.
I see in the criminal tattoo a sort of aesthetic ignorance that draws all the viewer’s attention to the contents.
In the stereotype of popular belief, the tattoo is a symbol of crime and/or non-conformism. Probably, those who get tattoos feel the need to make a transgressive gesture and that operation applied to statues magnifies the rebellious and provocative aspect, because it usurps that art and classical beauty that are believed to be unalterable.
In the imaginary of the criminal tattoo there is much sacred and much profane, many skulls, weapons, it is a very aggressive image that clashes greatly with the whiteness of the marble.
How do you choose the cultural or symbolic elements, such as tattoos or motifs, that you integrate into your sculptures?
I do a lot of research and sometimes I rely on some people of Russian origin to better understand the meanings of the drawings I am going to make. I have also made some collaborations with famous tattoo artists (Maxime Plescia-Büchi or Chaim Machlev) for some commissioned works.
Are there any classical sculptors or works that hold a particular influence over your art?
I love Greek sculpture and Bernini. I love the simplicity of the Greeks, the lightness, like no effort.
On the other hand, I perceive the tension and the fatigue of Bernini. He had a technical level that no sculptor can match. There are very few daring people who have attempted to copy him.
What is your perspective on the interplay between permanence and impermanence in art, particularly given the enduring nature of marble?
Time is the filter, everything that passes through it suffers its consequences and often its destruction.
There are two aspects connected to it: material objectivity and conceptual objectivity.
What an artist produces in matter will have deformations over time that may be due for example, to atmospheric agents or to neglect, but the conceptual objectivity of a work can exert a significantly greater pressure because the perception of the spectator will depend on it.
A work that manifests itself today as art must have the ability to do so in a universal and timeless way so that it remains over time, but if this does not happen, no material will be able to protect its integrity.
If you were to envision a future evolution of your work, how would you want your art to reflect the world of tomorrow?
What I do is often a photograph of the present.
Creating images that influence the future is often a search that leads the artist to travel new paths.
Unfortunately in sculpture there are obligatory times that are compared with those of life that drastically limit the quantity of works that can be produced.
If I imagine myself in the future I would like to modify this temporal relationship to give my sculpture the possibility of traveling in as many directions as possible.
For more information, follow @vialefabio.
