Martino with Carlo Mollino

Martino Gamper had begun to "play" with the masters starting with Giò Ponti, just in order to not attract attention let's say, then, recently, in order to present this collection of furniture reconstructed from a dismantled chair by Carlo Mollino.
Put like this, as always with his work, it seems nothing. But then he has imagination, a certain touch and wisdom, which bestow something more than a Readymade upon these reconstructions, making them be born again loaded with expression, with wonder, with meaning. In this incontinent creative bulimia of his, his creations are always many, of infinite variations, and yet always catching us unawares. They are an almost grammatical declination in which by altering one letter, everything is renewed: ante; nate; tane. Add a letter: tante; netta; tenta, and you've got 21 more ‒ magic.
But it's not just the game of the method, the variants, the construction and the research. It's the pleasure of seeing in every poser a new posture, a new mimicry, a new character. The sad one, the melancholic one, the foolish one, the heavy one, the funny one, the one who is in love, wise, hard, or open, the woman and the man. It's like a Disney universe in which a few strokes outline a human personality; distinct and unique. If, then, the sad and erotic melancholy of a Mollino lies underneath, it ends up becoming a strange and perverse game, like an old lady in a smoky boudoir dressed up as Minnie Mouse, but without being ridiculous or comical, just once again lively and alive.

Exhibition: Frieze Art Fair 2008, Salon 94 Gallery, New York in collaboration with Nilufar Gallery, Milan

Photography: Angus Mills