LORENZO CANOVA

from the catalogue “The Time of Creation”

Galleria Vittoria, Via Margutta, Rome – 4–18 April 2025

A complex and finely woven texture of color, a chromatic interlacing built with refinement and mastery, abstract panels that, in their richness, evoke epochs and continents distant in both space and time: it is upon these foundations that the work of Milena Scarcella unfolds. She is almost a contemporary alchemist, moving through an elaborate and knowledgeable process of metamorphosis of matter. Scarcella conceives her works with an openness to cross-pollination, blending skills and expressive forms into a synthesis that brings together design and painting, architecture and mosaic.

The artist shifts seamlessly from the creation of jewelry, personally crafted with remarkable skill and a joyful inventiveness, to the mosaic works presented in this exhibition: true pictorial compositions that come to life through a rigorous methodology, one in which the finesse and precision of the hand are bound to the discipline of planning. Scarcella thus rediscovers the aniconic inspiration of a millennia-old history of ornamentation that can be traced from East to West, from the mosaics of mosques to Byzantine tessellations, from ancient Egypt to the Viennese Secession, from Japanese and Indian decorative traditions to an explicit dialogue with the mastery of Gustav Klimt and the geometric lightness of Paul Klee.

Scarcella unites the geometry of form with the poetry of chromatic vibrations; she distills the precious materials of each tessera through a refined process of transmutation, where elements are sublimated to form the pulsating structures of her works. In this sense, it is particularly compelling to read how the artist, when expressing her admiration for Gustav Klimt, describes herself as “a passionate creative who immerses herself in the universe of matter to give life to unique and enchanting works. Through my skillful use of colors, forms, and both humble and precious materials such as gold and platinum, I seek to capture the essence of Art and convey an emotion that transcends words. Each fragment tells a unique and fascinating story, celebrating the beauty of nature and the boundless power of creativity.”

She also writes how, within the infinite precision of her constructive act, time itself seems to slow down to make room for the art of creation. These words are essential to understanding Scarcella’s works, which, within the suspended time of making, embody a passionate search for essence, beginning with polymer clay and evolving into thousands of tesserae and micro-tesserae, all hand-crafted and later enriched with color, gold, and platinum. The process, reminiscent of an ancient goldsmith’s workshop, concludes with the fire of the kiln, yielding a final solidity that shimmers with luminous and chromatic pulsations.

The artist therefore rejects seriality, focusing instead on the uniqueness of every single fragment, driven by the desire to enter into a mysterious dialogue with nature-evoked, quoted, and reinterpreted in each tiny piece. The fascination of these mosaics lies in the narratives concealed within their tesserae: hundreds of stories coalescing into the broader tale that unfolds across each panel.

The exhibition presents two cycles of works: Dialogues of the Sea and Fragments of Earth, in which naturalistic impressions are transfigured through an extraordinarily meticulous embroidery of signs, ornaments, and chromatic inserts. Scarcella imparts a lyrical presence to every fragment, and her dialogues of the sea vividly evoke the poetry of currents embracing the story of the tides, the infinite flow and breathing of ocean and land, the melodies of waves and dunes, the mysterious symmetries traced by reflections and chiaroscuro on water.

This imagined journey ideally concludes with the meeting and union of the elements along the platinum-sand shoreline, in the allure of fragments that form the narrative and the symphony of stone and light, within the enigmas and secrets of the earth that, in the hands of Milena Scarcella, achieve the magical harmony of her enchanted alchemies, between the absolute brilliance of blue and the regal gleam of gold.