The Breath Of Sculpture - London: Giuseppe Penone at the Serpentine

Thoughts in the roots is his largest exhibition ever hosted in the United Kingdom

A guide to understanding the exhibition “Thoughts in the roots”, the largest ever hosted in the UK by Giuseppe Penone, which is on view at the Serpentine South Gallery, nestled within the greenery of Royal Park, is provided through the words of the British institution’s director and the artist himself.
Hans Ulrich Obrist repeatedly states that he was able, thanks to Penone, “to bring the park into the gallery and vice versa,” while presenting the surprising results of a career focused on experimentation that has spanned half a century, showcasing a wide range of materials, emphasizing not only the visual component but also the tactile and olfactory elements, which vividly illustrate the many relationships between human and natural dimensions.
Giuseppe Penone, who participated in the 2011 Garden Marathon organized by the Serpentine Gallery— a two-day event exploring the concept of the garden in its many nuances— has chosen to illustrate the principles of his poetic vision through works created from 1969 to the present.

He uses a wide range of materials to illustrate the relationships between man and nature

To translate the synergies between artistic and natural processes, and highlight the poetic connections between the human and natural worlds, the exhibition includes works like Respirare l’ombra, a sensory installation made of laurel leaves that pack the gallery walls, representing the specific research he began in the early 1970s aimed at visualizing breath as sculpture through the use of various materials, thus challenging the foundations of plastic arts and its monumental aspects.

Breathing the Shadow is a sensory installation of laurel leaves that wrap the walls of the gallery

The exhibition pathway begins with A occhi chiusi, in which thousands of acacia thorns grafted onto canvas echo a close connection between our senses and nature.
Also on display is Alberi libro, a sculpture made up of 12 small trees placed side by side, where “Each word for the tree collects days of rain, sun, fog; it contains seasons, memories of places, of lived time, which have different meanings for each person”.
Among the many works in the park, there is Albero folgorato (2012), accompanied by two other pieces from the Idee di pietra series, which explore themes such as the wound or the contrast between organic and human dimensions, thanks to the coexistence of unworked stones and a tree created from bronze casting.
A catalog, containing new drawings and writings by Penone, as well as a long interview with the artist conducted by Obrist, accompanies the exhibition, alongside a limited-edition print.