Adele Lotito Captures Candle Smoke in Art at I Martedì Critici

Roman artist Adele Lotito, featured in the I Martedì Critici series, creates works that capture candle smoke on aluminum or paper using fixatives and resins. Her black-and-white pieces fuse music, letters, and numbers into concrete forms from ephemeral smoke. Critic Roberto Gramiccia describes her technique as opening spaces of possible sense—letters from different idioms, numbers ancient and modern—on the impalpable surface of smoke. Lotito studied at Rome's Accademia d'Arte under the influence of Fontana, Lo Savio, and Manzoni, and draws inspiration from Yves Klein. Her work also evokes Eastern rituals involving incense and divination, signaling a turn beyond Western aesthetics. The meaning of her symbols is left open to interpretation, with the randomness of creation allowing each viewer to read the work like an oracle.