Modular Still Life – Bruna D’Alessandro

Bruna D’Alessandro is an artist from Rome, Italy, based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work focuses on creating metal sculptures with a variety of techniques, such as welding, fabrication, hammer work, metal forming, forging, and brazing. Steel, stainless, aluminum, and brass are her mediums, and metalworking is her creative process. D’Alessandro’s crafted sculptures draw inspiration from childhood memories and toys, from her current surroundings, and, often, from the enchanting qualities of the metals themselves. In her pieces, D’Alessandro explores the themes of searching for identity, human relationships, and intimacy.
Modular Still Life is a still life sculpted in steel. It consists of various elements of fruits and vegetables along with some kitchenware components. Each component is created by the artist by forging and shaping the steel with hammer blows on the anvil. Viewers are invited to modify the still life by moving the elements to their liking.
The work represents the construction of a collection of memories. The idea of these pieces stems from the desire both to portray the organic elements with all the dedication and reverence of a still life painter using different metalworking techniques, and to depict a still life together with the spectators, through their active participation, creating a fun and interactive scenario.