Franco Cuttica’s work of art has an undeniably close connection to nature.
Just as wood floats down the river and trails from coast to coast, Franco Cuttica moves his particular vision of art, marking the path of his cosmopolitan career. This movement could even be described as inherent to his work. The monumentality of his many pieces, whether pertaining to horses, portraits or the different elements, involves a tedious and complex development. This evolves into part of the challenge and the adventure of the process. A chance to cross limits and expand borders.
At the age of 6, his family emigrates to the US. After attending various schools in NYC, he moves to East Hampton in order to attend Ross School. This is no ordinary school, considering the fact that it’s governed by principles and foundations of Zen Buddhism.
It sits in a forest at the east end of Long Island. This intense contact with nature will be the trigger for all of his work.
Franco’s work manifests itself in a variety of mediums, all intended to express the cycles of nature and what he calls “the flat circularity of time.” Franco’s “Driftwood” series “is an intervened extension of a journey”. The wood that has traveled from faraway lands, like Africa, that by happenstance ends up on a beach in Long Island, artificially “blends” in an extended expression, a final suggestion of the influence of man.
In this series, Franco conducts a very thorough search of the wood by using modern methods such as Google Earth in order to detect the areas where he can find the needed materials. It isn’t a simple search. It’s quite similar to looking for a needle in a haystack. Thereafter begins the journey itself, the collection of the material, the preparation. drafts, models, assembling. Where every part must fit like a piece in jigsaw puzzle.
Later on occurs the moment we could theatrically call, “setting fire to the masterpiece.” And then comes the water. Also theatrical. Almost by way of 'cleansing,' the work emerges renewed. The object thus rises from its ashes and takes on a new dimension. A different aura.
In these works, the limit of categorization is diffuse. Sculpture and performance are mixed. Photography also comes into play as documentation of the action, then becoming a work of art itself.
His bond with photography has existed from a young age. The series of photographs of Franco IGNIS, featuring the immolation of a "retired" piano, is an investigation of the physicality, the energy and the passage of time. In his own words: "do not confuse music with the instrument, music is immaterial, infinite; The instrument belongs to the cycle of nature. " Franco suggests that this metaphor can be applied to everyday life, which often tends to focus too much on the demand and permanence of the physical world and forget "what’s most important, the music."
All of his pieces contain the union of the eminent silence, masculine strength and fragility of their endings.