An exhibition of work by Virginia Landi and Massimiliano Rossomando in the Galleria Comunale in Barga Vecchia. Virginia Landi has exhibited her work in Barga on at least 2 other occasions – in 2003 in what was then an ex butchers (article here) before restoration work turned it into the Gelateria and a year later in 2004 when she returned with Hannah Keohane and Riccardo Bracaloni (article and images here) for an exhibition in the space which now houses the l’alcova gallery. Massimiliano Rossomando is instead a new name and face for the art scene here in the city. Found objects and assemblages comprise most of his work shown in the gallery this week but a running slide show on a portable computer shows another side to Massimiliano as we see him casting bronze using the lost wax process. Two small enigmatic bronzes included in his show are witness to the results of his casting.
Lost-wax casting, sometimes called by the French name of cire perdue or the Latin cera perduta, is the process by which a bronze or brass is cast from an artist’s sculpture; in industrial uses, the modern process is called investment casting. An ancient practice, the process today varies from foundry to foundry, but the steps which are usually used in casting small bronze sculptures in a modern bronze foundry are generally quite standardized. Other names for the process include “lost mould,” which recognizes that other materials besides wax can be used, including tallow, resin, tar, and textile and “waste wax process” or “waste mould casting”, because the mould is destroyed to unveil the cast item. Other methods of casting include open casting, bivalve mould, and piece mould. Lost-wax casting was widespread in Europe until 18th century, when a piece-mold process came to predominate. – source Wikipedia
Click on the link below for a fairly lengthy conversation (in Italiano) with Massimiliano Rossomando about his working methods forging bronze