Piero Fenci

The Tower Group consists of a series of machine-like clay sculptures that formally reference the engines of war and defense. These engines take form as ceramic turbines that reveal their inner workings; we see their armatures articulated with rivet piercings and wedge blocks, their internal supporting struts, and their sawtoothed box-beam handles. The turbines have no actual moving parts, and as such, they cease to be functional and become ceremonial. Their power is essentially aesthetic and arises in part from a rhythmic play of floating and intersecting forms. A neutral palette of bone white and flat grey draws attention to the tangible qualities of these rough towers, variously surfaced either in clean cracked earth or textured clay-slip coatings that recall finely grained sandstone. These turbines are tours-de-force of exquisite execution and refined detail, and in this way, pay homage to the aesthetic values of craft that traditionally characterize the ceramic arts.

A flotilla of colorful boat-like breastplates bespeak of their absent occupants. They form shells for missing soldiers who once wore, or who might have worn them at another place and time. Such armor would be impractical on the battlefield and could only function in a purely ceremonial way. In general, the use of metallic glazes evokes the splendor and machismo of armor, yet the colors and textures may also reference the wounds of battle. In the festive Armadura Negra y Bronce, the breastplate is covered with glazed-on patterns of abstract figures, which are linked together like paper dolls to form ornamental decorations-- perhaps as tallies of past "kills" or anticipated "targets." Suggestive qualities of corrosion, pitting, and staining here and there mark the surfaces of some of these armorial pieces to suggest their possible use. Such details awaken our sense of a weighty, sinister human past: we recognize that such ceremonial objects have their roots in more formidable precursors.

To evoke a sense of calm and quiet refuge in the sanctuary works, the artist fuses cultural sources, simultaneously referencing Japanese pillow forms and architectural elements of the Pueblo kiva to create a set of small reservoirs, each with an accompanying detached handle that rests loosely on top. Cloaked in green and bronze glazes, the duck-like bodies of these reservoirs seem to waddle playfully forward in the comfort of their asylum. Fenci has glazed some of the reservoir surfaces in hues of bronze, and these areas are heavily textured with striated crinkles that recall not duck feathers but aged skin. It is the skin of an elephant, a skin impervious at least to gnats and small darts, though not to arrows, spears, or bullets. Sanctuary can only be temporary, it seems.

The imagery of this series takes inspiration from the Japanese armorial tradition, more specifically, it references tosei gusuko armor of the late 16th- and early 17th centuries. In this series, the artist usually creates sets composed of two separate correlative helmet and shield units in order to establish binary relationships, which can be altered as he determines. The shield may rest apart from, slightly touch, lean against, or be partially inserted into the helmet. These alternate arrangements variously suggest emotional states, ranging in intensity from a distant affinity to a close attraction, and possibly even to intimate erotic attachment. One of the freestanding shields is purposefully cracked, as if under duress during some ancient battle, or by the slow reclamation of the Earth after eons of silent disuse. Unlike the others in this series, the helmet in Casco y escudo conectado has its shield fully inserted like a ceremonial comb and fused with it as a solid, intractable unit. In all these works, weathered surfaces in rich metallic glazes evidence alchemical forces at work. The sky blues, golden yellows, rich bronzes, deep blacks, coppers, greens and variegated rusts are the fruits of Piero Fenci's forty-year exploration of color in clay and glaze.

The Ramparts or battlements align with the four points of the compass: north, east, south, and west. Facing outward in these directions, with a fifth rampart forming an inner sanctum commanding the center, the collectively impart the idea of preparedness. Unlike the turbines of the tower series, the ramparts lack immediate reference to mechanization. The forms here stand immobile, like gondolas detached from their ballots and, thus, incapable of flight. All these gondolas rest on short stumpy feet (some pierced, either for anchoring to a stabilizing base, or as a last resort, for mooring the gondola to a stowed inflatable balloon). Architecturally engineered for security, the ramparts somehow seem vaguely organic, but the artist has fragmented and reconstructed their suggestively biomorphic forms in a synthetic cubist manner. Piero Fenci knows from experience how the various forms (in their smoothness or irregularity, and in their structural verticality or canter) actuate the flow and character of the glaze slips flowing over their surfaces. The dipping process itself -- the alternate cantering of multiple, layered dips -- ultimately determines what the glazes will do, long before they are tempered by the heat of the kiln. Richly decorated in an array of colors achieved through multiple glaze firings, the palette is similar to that of the helmets and shields, but here the emotional expression is bolder still. The ghosts of the missing warriors yell loudly through the cacophonous mixture of camouflage and boasting peacock colors. Theirs are the colors of war: taunting with rancorous confusion and daring in boisterous display. This metaphorical uproar is amplified by complex structures, the origami (folding and bending) of the ramparts' internal walls.

Piero Fenci incorporates a vegetative element into his ensemble in this pair of organic vessels, Hoja bronze (Bronze Leaf) and Hoja verde (Green Leaf). The delicacy of leaves and restrained beauty of shaker boxes inspired by the creation of these transitory, boat-like harbingers of fall and spring. Also suggestive of the passing of time, their copper and rust colored glazes reference the concept of patination. These leaf-vessels seem to communicate with each other in the way they are juxtaposed; the arrangement in close proximity becomes emblematic of attraction: like that of actual leaves dangling closely on a twig, of boats assembling together in a harbor, or of two lovers preparing to embrace one another. The ceramic medium also symbolizes the fragility of such relationships, for leaves may fall, boats collide, and lovers part. Ceramic vessels can last for many thousands of years, yet clay cracks and crumbles, and iron continues to rust.

Based on the model of the ceramic works, these drawings address the theme of uncertainty. Like ceramic glazes melting in the kiln, ink from a paintbrush goes where it will. Piero Fenci delights in this shared quality of indeterminacy. He conceives his drawings as short recordings, second takes, reprises of the ceramic productions. Ultimately, drawing for Fenci is a matter of orchestrating an event or setting things in motion, what he calls "climbing in and climbing out." In his allegorical drawings of Eddies (Torbellinos), Fenci conjures up a fictive maelstrom inhabited by improbable sea creatures, impossible organic turbines, and absurdly dancing urns. Arranging the drawings in four diptychs, he symbolically establishes multiple dualities -- before and after, positive and negative, animate and inanimate, arriving and departing -- and as such, Fenci reasserts the value of alternate ways of looking at our Topsy-Turvy World.