JP MARTURANO
OFFERING AND PROOF PROJECT
In this project, I carry a sculpture I have carved to the peak and offered it to the mountain. This is a symbolic act expressing my climber’s feeling of gratitude toward the mountain for allowing me to reach its summit safely.
In a broader sense, offering the sculpture not only means offering the artwork itself but also the time spent creating the piece and the skills acquired in the process. Considering that my artwork is an extension of myself, I believe that by leaving my sculpture there at the peak, it becomes part of the mountain and I, therefore, somehow become one with the mountain.
The final step in the process entails collecting a small pebble from the summit where I left the sculpture and bringing it down from the mountain as a symbolic evidence of my journey. Then, this pebble will be the model to work with in order to create a new artwork. So, a simple pebble becomes part of my artwork. The stone sculpture I offered becomes part of the mountain, so this stone sculpture returns to be a common piece of rock again. This project is intended to express my veneration and admiration for mountains by linking Art with mountain climbing.
When you climb a high mountain you get away from everyday comforts for a certain period of time and you feel you had stepped into a completely different world. At some point, there are no more sounds of rivers, trees or birds. As you walk, the only sounds that you could hear are those of the wind, your own footsteps and breathing and even your heartbeat becomes a vivid sensation. At times, suddenly the wind stops blowing and the mountain falls in complete silence. You also calm down and realize that the whole world has come to a complete standstill. And all around you, the snow, ice, rocks and clouds that form the landscape are in perfect harmony. Everything is in balance, from the deep blue sky to the patches of snow on the ground. Every stone, from towering cliffs to tiny pebbles are in the precise ideal position where they should be. In those times, I can really sense the harmony of nature.
And in the middle of this scenario, what am I? I feel that all things, visible and invisible, are interconnected and it seemed that they had prepared everything for me and were waiting for that moment to arrive. At that exact moment, all the training and climbing efforts has taken its meaning. I feel that I am not only a spectator anymore. I have become part of that astonishing moment itself and have become part of something far greater and bigger than I am. I am as small as a tiny pebble on top of the big mountain, but I was given the privilege to be there, to be part of the Creation and to become one with Nature.
Juan Pablo Marturano
ESCULTURA 彫刻 SCULPTURE
