Among the three solo exhibitions currently on show at the San Gimignano site of Galleria Continua, Present Tense by Arcangelo Sassolino, in the spaces of the Cisterna until 7 September, offers an examination of matter in the making, the passing of time and the physical tension sustaining all forms of equilibrium. The works on display, created specifically for the occasion, are part of a wider process of investigation by the artist from Vicenza, who has long been focused on mechanics and technology. In a holistic and complementary vision of the relationship between art and science – and between the different scientific disciplines – the works on display explore the laws of physics through the dynamics of the material that the work consists of, its composition and behaviour.
The exhibition opens with a series of three rotating discs with high-viscosity industrial oils laid on their surface. These works – which are part of the same line of investigation presented at this year’s Jeddah Bienniale in the work Memory of Becoming – generate a continuous, hypnotic motion thanks to the structure’s movement. Dense and metallic in colour, ranging between magenta and two different shades of blue, the industrial oil used for the works is a non-Newtonian fluid. Its viscosity is variable as a result of its internal properties and external stresses, which include the temperature of the environment and the speed of the electrical system, jointly monitored and calibrated in a balance between the different parts. The rotation of the disc compensates for the force of gravity by redefining, from time to time, the paths of movement taken by the fluid. A continuous negotiation between motion and inertia, viscosity and fluidity, shape and deformation.
Arcangelo Sassolino describes these works as “liquid sculpture”, works that question sculptural matter as static and defined by the sole action of the artist. Under the discs, in fact, there are long rectangular plates to collect the dripping oil, traces of a failure in the system control, the inevitable oil consumption and the consequent exhaustion of the work.
The works La forma dell’Attesa (The Shape of Waiting, 2025) and Impartial Silence (2025) continue this theme, offering visual configurations that subvert compositional conventions: vulnerability sustains mass. The precarious balance of a 300 kg boulder on the neck of a bottle, or a block of granite supported by a jar, create a zone determined by contingency and impermanence. The “waiting” in the work’s title refers to the rupture, which can also be seen in the curvilinear work in concrete that preserves the signs of the forced separation which occurred when it broke from the matrix.
In Present Tense, Sassolino gives an image of sculptural matter as a developing organism, subject to changes imposed by the forces that pass through it. The works are configured as ongoing processes, exposed to tensions, frictions and transformations that continually redefine their form and balance. Viscous surfaces, mechanical stresses and precarious configurations become devices for investigating the liminal-temporal zone between control and disintegration, exposing the illusion of material stability – a question which even contemporary science is currently addressing.
To conclude with the words taken from the book Matter by Guido Tonelli, one of the physicists behind the discovery of the Higgs boson, who has been engaged in scientific dissemination for years:
Our universe originates and evolves randomly and chaotically, finds almost stable states of equilibrium rolling along on the edge of the precipice, it creates an impression of solidity and persistence […] Today it turns out that that fragility, which we are so ashamed of and which has built for us a permanent element of anguish, is a trait common to the entire material world. Modern science tells us that all material forms endowed with some consistency suffer from this intrinsic fragility; there is nothing, even among the most imposing structures, that can escape this law, this kind of original sin.
Arcangelo Sassolino. Present Tense, Galleria San Gimignano, Siena, Italy, 03.05 – 07.09.2025
images: (cover 1) Arcangelo Sassolino, «La forma dell’attesa», 2025, ventro e a glass and stainless steel, 183 x 30 x 30 cm, 72.04 x 11.81 x 11.81 in, Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, Photographer: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio (2) Arcangelo Sassolino, «No memory without loss», 2025, 160 cm (diameter), industrial oil, steel and electrical system, Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, Photo: Arcangelo Sassolino Studio (3) Arcangelo Sassolino, «The constant matter», 2025, 160 cm (diameter), industrial oil, steel and electrical system, Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, Photo: Arcangelo Sassolino Studio (4) Arcangelo Sassolino, «Impartial silence», 2025, granite, glass and steel, 165 x 83 x 45 cm, 64.96 x 32.67 x 17.71 in, Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, Photographer: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio (5) Arcangelo Sassolino, «Untitled», 2025 concrete and steel, 125 x 125 x 40 cm, 49.21 x 49.21 x 15.74 in, Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, Photographer: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio
