Opus in Artem presents
MIRSAD HERENDA – Recent works
Antico Oratorio della Passione, Milan, Italy

Curated by Domenico Maria Papa
from 12 to 18 February 2018

Mirsad Herenda, for the first time with a solo exhibition in a public space in Italy, presents his recent production: iron sculptures of various sizes. Trees are the favourite subjects in Herenda’s research: he draws and shapes them, alone or in groups, until they form, as in his larger installations intended for parks or city spaces, woods or pieces of land.

Each work is the result of patient work. In fact, every branch and every formal component springs from the action of welding, which gradually descends into detail and becomes more accurate and precise.

A peculiarity of Herenda’s works lies in the desire to preserve traces of the work, so that the ground in which the trees sink their roots is given by the accumulation of filaments and other materials: it is an undergrowth that is both metaphorical and strongly real, just as the remains of shrubs and branches recall the painful condition of existence and abandonment. A condition that refers to experience even before aesthetic choices. The iron is often left exposed to the action of atmospheric agents which oxidise it, completing the artist’s work.

“Herenda’s is in fact an obstinate sculpture. – It is built piece by piece, through meticulous welding, starting from the smallest branches, to build trees and with trees entire woods and landscapes. Nothing is lost: even the most negligible residue, what remains, the waste from casting that would otherwise be cleaned away, is included in the sculpture. It is as if to say that in the work of man, whether it is well done or not, whether it is beautiful or evil, nothing really can be forgotten. Everything remains.”

The exhibition is made possible thanks to the support of Background Italia and is organised by Opus in Artem, Milan and Museumstudio s.r.l.s, Turin. The toast is offered by the Azienda Vinicola Villa Giada, Agliano Terme, Asti.

Find Mirsad Herenda also on ARTSY.