Andrea Gandini’s first public sculpture in Milan carves a dead tree trunk in Porta Venezia

Roman artist Andrea Gandini (b. 1997) has created his first public artwork in Milan, carving a dead tree trunk abandoned in the Porta Venezia area without commission, as a gift to the city. Known for his urban interventions on fallen trees in Rome—where he has made over 60 sculptures for his ongoing project Troncomorto—Gandini chose a controversial Milanese zone. The sculpture sits between two tram tracks; a barely sketched figure emerges from the surface, peering out as if from a window, a mute witness to social inequalities. Gandini told Artribune: 'My message is that art can flourish even in the most unexpected public places. Often trees and their scraps are considered rubbish, but I think they are a resource that must be exploited.' The work highlights the contrast between degradation (drug dealing, homeless people sleeping on benches) and wealth (million-euro apartments opposite the green area). The intervention comes a week after Vittorio Brumotti’s investigation for Striscia La Notizia on drug dealing in central Milan.