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Canberra Today 13°/15° | Saturday, March 30, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Arts / ‘Flower power’ in Deakin

IN the vicinity of Grey Street Deakin, through the gates of the Italian Ambassador’s residence at the mirror-like sculpture is “Flower power”, by Italian artist Silvia Tuccimei.

Two of the three parts of the sculpture, photo by Monika McInerney
“Flower power” is composed of three sculptures of identical shape but decreasings size made entirely of reflecting stainless steel. Only two of the tunnel-like flowers in the ground can be seen, the third one is now gifted to and permanently installed in the interior courtyard of the residence.

It consists of a huge, abstracted six-petal flower outline, about 300 cm across, fabricated out of mirrored stainless steel. This shape is repeated in two further identical modules, but each of smaller proportions, for a total of 800 kg in weight. Over 20 workers were employed in its creation, made possible by the patronage of Italian entrepreneur Fabio Bini, artistic director and CEO of OMCF in Florence, the manufacturer of high end steel products.

Tuccimei exhibited “Flower power” at Sculpture by the Sea in Bondi last year, and the work was described by the director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney, Donatella Cannova as “an open door into the infinite”.

The artist had also exhibited in the 2013 edition of the same exhibition, after which her sculpture, “Passage Secret” was permanently installed at “Hillview” in the Southern Highlands, NSW.

Art critic Sasha Grishin recently introduced “Flower power” to a group of Canberra art-patrons at the residence, finding in the dazzlingly reflective work something of Dante’s world, filled with tunnels and mirrors.

Italian Ambassador Pier Francesco Zazo praised Tuccimei for pursuing “an artistic itinerary between Italy and Australia which has reinvigorated her vision and offered fertile ground for her work.” He emphasised that the initiative was part of a series of activities facilitated by the Italian diplomatic network in Australia aimed at promoting Italian contemporary art, not just the great Renaissance works for which Italian artists are known the world over.

“Flower power”, front garden of the Italian Ambassador’s residence, Grey Street Deakin.

 

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Helen Musa

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