Sandro Martini Untitled

Executed on site by Sandro Martini (1941–2022, b. Livorno, Italy) with the assistance of four art students, this consciously ephemeral soft sculpture is inspired by its space—a 25’ x 50’ vacant lot wedged between two abandoned buildings. The Milan-based artist “sew[s] the buildings together” daily by interlacing brightly-colored strips of handmade canvas pulled taut on a skeleton of metal cables to create a tapestry of planes and hues—a technique and style that has been described as “aerial architecture.” His chosen medium revives the painstaking techniques of Old World craftsmanship. “I like to immerse myself in the artisan traditions,” says Martini, who has invented his own recipe for dyeing the canvas, a variant on Renaissance methods. At the same time, his soft sculptures underline the artist’s celebration of the spontaneous and accessible. Assistants communicate with Martini, who speaks little English, primarily through gesture and materials, with friends and passersby acting as subtle participants in the creative process.