WEM EDITORIAL #11 PENNACCHIO ARGENTATO
I’m constantly growing, evolving, and becoming my best self (2022)
Dettaglio di Pennacchio Argentato, I’m constantly growing, evolving, and becoming my best self (2022)
On the occasion of the Biennale Latitudini dell’Arte, the artistic duo Pennacchio Argentato presents “I’M CONSTANTLY GROWING, EVOLVING, AND BECOMING MY BEST SELF” (2022), a new sculpture that investigates the relationship between economy and ecology, addressing the urgencies of our present and the uncertainties of our future.
In the historical venues of the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa, the fifth edition of the project curated by Virginia Monteverde, Stefania Giazzi and Paul Thomassen entitled “The Twilight of the Earth” triggers a dialogue between Italian and Swedish artists around environmental issues and the need to reevaluate our relationship with Nature and the Earth’s ecosystems.
“Ecology is trapped in the link between the desire to consume and the ability to survive.” Pennacchio Argentato
Pennacchio Argentato, I’m constantly growing, evolving, and becoming my best self (2022), resina epossidica, 200 x 150 x 100 cm, courtesy WEM Gallery © Danilo Donzelli
The work addresses the issue of the climate crisis, the melting of glaciers, and the depletion of raw materials in relation to the widespread meditative practices of self-affirmation (traced in the work’s title) that incite individuals to remain focused on themselves without fear of what is to come.
Facing this installation, visitors can percive a contradiction: ecological concerns affecting our planet are here associated with contemporary mantras from New Age psychological theories that spur individuals to take care of themselves and their interests by repeating positive and enthusiastic phrases to themselves.
Pennacchio Argentato, I’m constantly growing, evolving, and becoming my best self (2022), resina epossidica, 200 x 150 x 100 cm, courtesy Biennale Latitudini dell’Arte © Barbara Sagripanti e Luigi Arcangeli – Lightbox
“We have always been interested in the relationship between capitalism, desire and exploitation. Ecology is trapped in the link between the desire to consume and the ability to survive. As human beings, our nature is made up of contradictions. We want to have everything, but we also want to survive; our work is situated in this in-between space of existence.” Pennacchio Argentato
Like many works in the duo’s artistic practice, the sculpture addresses current issues to contemporary aesthetics triggering reflections not only on what we are but more importantly on what we will become. Present and future intermingle suggesting that we live in times fraught with contradictions and that a not-so-contradictory future awaits us.
Pennacchio Argentato, I’m constantly growing, evolving, and becoming my best self (2022), resina epossidica, 200 x 150 x 100 cm, courtesy Biennale Latitudini dell’Arte © Barbara Sagripanti e Luigi Arcangeli – Lightbox
