The most skilled sculptor is the one who can deceive our perception. Artists have always transformed rough stones into living flesh. Not with a magic wand, but with a chisel. Since the Venus of Willendorf, sculpture has followed the course of history, adapting, evolving.
Today, sculptors face new challenges: no longer simply ennobling the material, but doing the opposite. Transforming a precious material like marble into something seemingly humble: rubber, polystyrene, wood, paper.
Contemporary artists, like modern-day Midas in reverse, who don't turn everything into gold, but bring the noble into the everyday. Valeria Vaccaro, born in Turin in 1988, has the ability to transform marble into wood. His extraordinary sculptures invite us to look beyond appearances. A simple bundle of letters is actually an exceptional work of art in precious Carrara marble.
Her wooden crates appear ready for shipping. However, they are chipped, imprecise, and appear to have already endured long journeys, tossed from side to side. Another distinctive feature of Valeria Vaccaro's sculptures is the artist's ability to capture the precise moment when the wood seems to catch fire. Her marble works, which perfectly imitate the material, crystallize the moment of combustion. Vaccaro skillfully plays with the viewer's perception, capturing a rapid and irreversible natural process in marble, transforming an eternal material into something seemingly fragile and destined to consume.
In conclusion, Valeria Vaccaro's works invite us to reflect on the theme of appearance and the importance of observing our surroundings more carefully. Often, our perception can be deceptive: what we see doesn't always correspond to reality. Simple, everyday objects like pencils, matches, or wooden crates reveal themselves, in her sculptures, to be made of precious marble. Vaccaro subverts expectations, transforming the "ugly" or the banal into something surprisingly beautiful, elevated to a work of art. Her work is based on stark contrasts—between what is and what seems, between noble material and humble form, between beauty and ugliness—and challenges us to look beyond the surface.
