Hommage à Antoni Gaudi

Salvatore Mauro concluded his third residency on 31 October 2023, in three years it saw him move from Iceland to Portugal to Spain, all in three years of itinerant projects, which saw him involved with his Costell'Azione, in each country, leaving its traces, without forgetting the territory where it resided and involving the local population with its performances and installations. We focus on his last 15-day residency at R.A.R.O in Barcelona, ​​staying in one of the neighborhoods that is currently experiencing great vitality in the field of art and design, Poblenou, a neighborhood full of galleries and cinema and design schools. The project that S.M. it is a tribute to Catalan architecture, in particular to the figure of Gaudi, one of the greatest innovators of Spanish architecture. The project is called “Hommage à Antoni Gaudi”.

“”When I found myself in front of Casa Batlló I was immediately struck by the strength of the shapes and colours, as if I found a modern sculpture reflecting the sunlight in front of me”” S.M.

In fact, Gaudi is remembered for this optical effect also produced by ceramic circles and stained glass, which create an effect of polychrome colors reminiscent of the Catalan "Trencadis" technique, an ornamental application that uses ceramic fragments without a precise compositional grammar like mosaic, but in a casual and abstract way.

“The thing that immediately struck me about the facade of Casa Batlò was a composition of circles that paraded in all parts without any precise direction, which reminded me of my Costell'Azioni, since my sign is also dictated by randomness and polychromy of colors” S.M.

“Hommage à Antoni Gaudi” is a careful observation of Gaudi's compositional ability that Salvatore Mauro absorbed into his project, dividing himself into a studio visit, where he showed the end of his project to the public, but also paid homage to the neighborhood, leaving a its Costell'Azione in the Poblenou district. This testifies to the artist's generosity but also to the compositional ability that he had already demonstrated in the permanent project left in Portugal on the theme of azulejos.