ARTIST’S STATEMENT “My artistic practice began as a quixotic quest, for reification of what lies beyond the veil of the mundane. In the face of the ineffable, the best I could do was to ask the question: how does one go about creating something out of nothing? “Geometry has provided a lifeline out of this conundrum and I have been exploring forms whose properties are organic beyond the figurative sense. They somehow feel less arbitrary, by the way they encompass extreme functionality and exquisite aesthetics. Also, they already exist, they are found. “This fiercely rational approach produces a mute object, therefore past this point the aim is to create a meaningful experience. “Layered, idiosyncratic narratives determine the form of the components to the effect of a site-specific artwork open to personal interpretation. That which was mathematical, abstract, is shaped into something figurative, semantic: this addresses our society’s anxiety around technology and brings a positive outlook to what the future may bring.”
Giovanni Veronesi, 2019
FLOWER OF THE ALPINE SUN Falls Creek, VIC 2018: Winner Expression-of-Interest Phase Commissioner: Falls Creek Resort Management Board The Commission itself is subject to fundraising.
Concept Summary Falls Creek offers two opposed seasonal sceneries: winter’s snowy peaks and summer’s meadows teeming with wildflowers. The blazing Alpine Sun envelopes both landscapes in it’s warm and vibrant light, as it cuts through the deep blue sky and the fresh air. Expanding on this imagery, Flower of the Alpine Sun will be a monument to the seasonal landscapes of Falls Creek, and the sensational light of the alps, which envelops them. Set to become a true landmark, it will be rich in dualities making it an extremely engaging experience. In appearance for example: part alpine flower, part sun. A golden orb reflecting the pristine snow-covered environment in winter and a flower-like symbol of the fragile alpine ecology in summer. It is figurative and it is also abstract. It is complex and it wants to be understood by the inquisitive. It is cunningly rational, yet it lends itself to personal interpretation. Materiality also conveys duality: externally the work is coated in an exuberant metallic gold finish, internally humble, vernacular galvanized steel echoes the material of the ski lifts.
Flower of the Alpine Sun is morphologically driven first and foremost by spatial abstraction. Simple detailing, structural efficiency, assembly considerations and dynamically perceived sculptural form, achieve effortless complexity, which in turn amplifies the narratives and themes that are layered as the object is contextualised to create a unique artwork. The perceived form can change dramatically on approach, which is a property of the geometry and how it engages with shifting points of view. Because the 'fins' converge exactly to the centre of the space at eye-level, upon entering and arriving to this focal point, the lookout itself almost vanishes from sight and one is suddenly enveloped by the landscape. This is targeted at creating a truly memorable experience which may bond visitors to the site.
Flower of the Alpine Sun would be the culmination in a series of works that are driven by a search for special geometries with unique aesthetic and practical quality. The unifier in these works is a desire to transcend the struggle of the contemporary digital design movement with the mundane, through rich narrative and solid, meaningful contextualization. I believe in this sense Flower of the Alpine Sun addresses our society’s anxiety around technology and brings a positive outlook to what the future may bring. It would represent the opportunity to take my practice and message to the next level.
LOTUS CHANDELIER, 2012 Wujin District, China Architect: Studio505 Client: Wujin District People’s Government 7m tall chandelier made from CNC routed and laminated acrylic Fully programmable LED lighting apparatus by BAM, NY Fabricator: BAM
This project, conceived, developed and fully detailed while under the employment of s505, is driven by a research in generating design from geometrical gestures that carry simple detailing, structural efficiency, assembly considerations and dynamically perceived sculptural form. It is also an excellent example of the artist’s language applied to a vertical form.
MEMENTO AESTATES, 2019 Byron Bay Railway Park, NSW 2018: Winner Public Art Commission Budget $80k, Completion date Nov 2019. Client: Byron Shire Council
Memento Aestates is layered with multiple consilient narratives. The name literally means “Remember the Summers�: intriguingly obscure, yet the word memento immediately recognizable as a synonym of souvenir. The use of Latin is also a playful reference to the scientific language of taxonomy and botany. The form draws its attractiveness from the relationship between its individual parts, and as such it is organic beyond the strictly figurative sense.
Memento Aestates is rich in natural morphologies and somewhat reminiscent of a pandanus fruit, which has a strong association with Byron Bay, and a signifier of vacation to many. This pandanus is embellished as well as distorted, which speaks of memory: treasured, faded and of summers bygone. In an effort to remind ourselves that Byron Bay once was a working man town, humble, sturdy galvanised steel, ubiquitous in industrial environments, becomes the appropriate, vernacular choice of material. The artist will collaborate with UAP for the delivery of this project.
Tony runs his business as2012 a digital and commercial business FLOWER OF FIRE AND WATER, but his heart has always been in the artistic side. The project for China Flower him Expo 2013, Wujin, China him gave a chance to explore what his business might have 6m dia Sculpture, welded COR-TEN Steel been in Studio505 an ideal world, where the creative, hand-done side of Architect: industrial was understood and appreciated. He enjoyed the Client: Wujin art Flower Expo Fabricator: Chinese contractor fact that Local the project allowed him to promote that vision to people who stopped and talked to him. This sculpture, six meters in diameter and made from 120 sheets of COR-TEN steel, is the direct precursor to the Waratah Studio. Conceived, developed and fully detailed in private it has come to fruition under the employment of s505.
The theme of the Australian garden at the Wujin Flower Expo was rejuvenation. The narrative of the landscape’s death and rebirth through fire, is captured in the two intertwined geometries and their opposed patterns, the fine tuning of the profiles as well as the works name: Flower of Fire and Water.
This work employs a sophisticated geometrical set-out and language while having only two types of modules, or petals, and three types of connection. The fabricators in China could execute the sculpture within an extremely tight time-frame exclusively from two CNC cutting files and a simple set of diagrams showing the assembly principle.
WARATAH STUDIO, 2013 Royal Horticultural Society, Chelsea Flower Show, London Temporary structure within Trailfinder’s Australian Garden Architect: Studio505 Client: Philipp Johnson Landscapes and Fleming’s Nurseries Fabricator: Plate Alloy
This project was conceived, developed and fully detailed while under the employment of s505. This design approach is driven by on-going research in achieving complexity from 2-dimensional construction components and a desire to generate a sculptural space with a dynamic external appearance and exquisite internal spatial quality. The convergence of this rational approach with a strongly organic language made the design a perfect canvas for a botanical narrative embedded in the finer details. Awards: 2013 RHS Chelsea Flower Show: Gold Medallist Garden and Winner Best in Show in its centenary edition. 2013 Australian Timber Design Awards: Winner - Outdoor Timber
Standalone Structures
2013 World Architecture Festival: Short-listed finalist within display category 2013 Premier’s Design Awards, Victoria: Short-listed finalist within the Architectural Design category
ART FAÇADE, 2016 155 Queen Street Mall, Brisbane, QLD Art Facade, 400m² Architect: Studio505 Client: ISPT Fabricator: UAP
Following the success of the Wintergarden facade in Brisbane, ISPT contacted s505 to design also the facade of the neighbouring building at 155 Queen Street Mall by John Wardle Architects. This original concept was conceived by the artist while under the employment of s505. The brief was to extend the themes of Wintergarden while maintaining an autonomous identity and language. Taking inspiration from MC Escher’s work on metamorphosis, the facade expresses a transition from the inanimate to the animate, generating a stunning art facade that also negotiates the existing buildings and the playfully irreverent Wintergarden facade.
CARTESIAN, 2018 Mason Residence, Pottsville, NSW, 2018
Cartesian Mk I
990mmx880mm, Gaboon and Oak Marine Ply
Cartesian Mk II
1280mmx1010mmx910mm, Gaboon and Oak Marine Ply
Originally commissioned as ornaments for Bill’s Bar at Woodford Folk Festival in QLD and now installed on the front deck of a private residence in Pottsville, NSW. These two pieces are conceived as a pair and in doing so it reinforces a specific interpretation of organic language, where the sculptures are two different manifestations, or phenotypes, of a same organisational structure, or genotype. This work was also intended as a demonstration that through thoughtful design, complexity of form does not necessarily involve complex and expensive manufacturing processes. The sculptures are made from exclusively CNC cut marine plywood slotted together and did not require glue or mechanical fixings to assemble.
GIOVANNI VERONESI MOBILE +61 450 407 715 EMAIL gioveronesi@hotmail.it INSTAGRAM @gioveronesi