Alessandro Pavone installs hand sculpture in Abruzzo National Park for Arteparco

Giovanni Cannata, president of the Parco Nazionale di Abruzzo Lazio Molise, introduced the new edition of Arteparco by emphasizing the importance of prosperity and health. The initiative aims to strengthen the park's resources. Artist Alessandro Pavone (born 1973 in Trento) created a site-specific hand sculpture from a larch tree felled during the 2018 Vaia storm in Trentino, near his hometown of Folgaria. The hand symbolizes the cycle of life: the trunk will rot and a new tree will grow. Children will plant a tree in November, representing a hand caring for life. Pavone discussed his background: he temporarily left art school to work with Robert Wilson, followed him to New York and the Watermill Center, then worked with curator Marie Claude Beaud for Luxembourg's pavilion at the Venice Biennale, winning the Golden Lion in 2003 with Su Mei Tse. He later moved to Folgaria, working with chainsaws, marble, granite, and bronze. He discovered bronze casting at Fonderia Battaglia, developing a new technique using the sculpture's structure for casting channels. He admires Adolf Wildt for his technical mastery and torment. The hand form was chosen to mirror the fallen tree, with tension in the wrist as the keystone. Pavone sees the hand as a self-portrait and compares his work to dance and watercolor technique. The sculpture was photographed by Valentino Mastrella.