Title of the work: “A Thousand Red Poppies”
Artist: Manuel Grillo
Year of creation: 2022
Technique: Masonry, iron, PLA.
Size: 500 cm x 400 cm
Description:
“A Thousand Red Poppies” is a wall work created for the Quixote Theater (Montecelio – Rome), on the occasion of the Montecelio Film Festival, Ed. Fabrizio De André 2022.
Price: Available upon request.
Purchasing contacts:
- Website: www.manuelgrilloartist.com
- Email: manuel.grillo87@gmail.com
The project commissioned by Mario Eleno, actor and artistic director of the Montecelio Film Festival, Ed. Fabrizio De André 2022, held at the Quixote Theater, featured several project phases. Initially, the project, which was based on the line “a thousand red poppies” from De André’s ballad “Piero’s War,” involved the installation of a vertical garden of 1,000 red poppies.
Later, given the difficulty of maintaining the work over time, they opted for a “3D printed garden.” The work A Thousand Red Poppies was thus prototyped at the spaces of the Accademia Dei Romani, with the help of 3D printers from the Academy’s digital lab, Nodelab, over the course of about a month.
Given the outdoor installation of the 3D poppies, advice was sought from Alessandro D’Ercole, an iron artist, to find a way to insulate the plastics from the weathering to which they would be subjected over time.
Through a dialogue with artist Tatsiana Pagliani, the work is then enriched with new meaning. The Thousand Red Poppies become the shadows that the white plastic flowers cast on the red-painted wall. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
The work created in December 2022, on the wall adjacent to the theater entrance, was made possible with the help of: Umberto Ballacci, Bruno Grillo and Matteo Mastrojanni.
I also thank the Accademia Dei Romani, in the person of its president, Adv. Angiolo Marroni and his partner as well as artist Stefania Fienili, Academy Director Gerardo Lo Russo.
Finally, my wife, Arianna, who has always, accompanied me on the journey of life.
My family, all of them.
