Antonio Tropiano: Sculpting the Void as a Space of Possibility at I Martedì Critici

Antonio Tropiano, born in Calabria in 1976 and working between Rome and San Caterina dello Ionio, presented his research at I Martedì Critici, a format conceived by Alberto Dambruoso and Loredana Rea. His sculptural practice is rooted in language, philosophy, and the humanist tradition, with the Greek concept of symbolon—a gesture uniting visible and invisible, matter and thought—at its core. Dambruoso notes that Tropiano's works function as metaphors for the human condition, built through a symbolic language inviting layered interpretation. The artist's background as a philologist of medieval and Renaissance texts informs his attention to hidden meanings and ambiguities. For Tropiano, sculpture begins with the verb; titles are not mere accompaniments but conceptual origins drawn from words and their semantic shifts. Wood is his primary material, where literary inspiration becomes concrete form. An example is his exhibition 'Ad Vacuum (Verso il vuoto)' at PROSA Contemporanea in Rome, on view until February 2. Here, the void is not absence but a generative space of potential. In his subtractive carving, the full coincides with the chosen figure, while the void resides in discarded shards that hold all unrealized forms.