In Light of Shadows – Gianmatteo Romegialli

“Nothing has appeared to me so imbued with light and shade as the Australian landscape.
The intensity of light and the harshness of shadow seem to touch you. In contrast the atmosphere is ethereal, the clouds gliding in the air so pure.”

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A chat with the architect Gianmatteo Romegialli about his pieces in the exhibition in Light of Shadows:

 For this exhibition I envisaged architecture in miniature; generated from simple forms but with a complex assembly. An assembly of raw light, carved and rhythmic surfaces to capture the  unique Australian environment. Really I am interested in the potent light, crisp shadow or delicate penumbra to create a discrete familiar presence .

 I am an architect, but I have always wanted to forge metal – to be able to control both shape and  patina. This exhibition allowed me to partly live this desire.  Knowing the local blacksmith and having worked with him on details within my buildings (I always try to incorporate local materials like metal and stone and working methods) I felt I could approach his team to help me out. I stressed I wanted to be hands on as much as possible throughout the entire fabrication; I’m sure he was not so impressed with this! So for quite a few Saturdays – obviously after a good strong coffee – I worked with the master and other members of his team.

Broadly speaking, I designed and produced three series for ‘In Light of Shadows’ to look at three different aspects:

Shadow Fold – an artwork based on a mathematical formula:

Dynamic Light – the pieces were laser cut,welded by the master blacksmith at Bottega Walterpontiggia with some of my own attempts; I learnt how to grind back the metal and polish it:

Hot Earth Glare – this piece highlights both traditional metal hammering and our local stone. I know for sure I was cursed more than once for wanting the stone components to be just a little thinner and just a little more defined.

Many thanks to Bottega Walterpontiggia.

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In Light of Shadows opens this Friday, 1st June, and will remain at Gallery Bilk until the 6th July.