ETERNAL STEEL

"You don't have to respect my sculptures; you have to love them and want to play with them. I want to sculpt forms that can bring joy to people."
Constantin Brancusi

GianPi Manzoni's work is part of his biographical profile as the pinnacle of a fruitful career dedicated to interior design, the sublime culmination of the natural flow of the creative process, which he experimented with and skillfully executed throughout his career as an eclectic and refined designer for the historic family company, DOMUSNOVA, active since 1881 in the creation of prestigious furnishing accessories.

Where his appreciation for interior design was manifested beyond the design, in the meticulous selection and processing of noble materials and their subsequent representation—mise en scene—GianPi Manzoni's expressive compendium is now revealed in the exclusive, if not almost monogamous, relationship he establishes with the metallic material of steel, deliberately stainless, for its eternal resilience.

The preface, which defines 316L stainless steel as an austenitic (allotropic) and non-magnetic metal alloy (an allotropic phase of iron) composed of chromium, nickel, molybdenum, and a low percentage of carbon, is valid. This particular composition gives 316L steel superior corrosion resistance, particularly against chloride corrosion, common in marine waters, where it is used in naval applications, often referred to as marine steel.

Through this material, the artist gauges his aptitude for sculptural creation: first through the technical mastery he applies to it, through direct comparison with its governing properties such as mass, volume, and shape, and then through the extension of the aesthetic concept embodied in his luminous, multifaceted creations.

Arriving at the artist's studio in Oggiono (where he lives and works), a town in the province of Lecco, the imposing metal sheets undergo a massive physical transformation: their solid surfaces are agitated with powerful folds, bends, and flexes, then refined with soft, precise carvings that shape the profiles of the various figures. Finally, a mirror-like polishing concludes this vigorous and powerful undertaking, while primary hues such as deep black or absolute red moderate the entire chromatic spectrum of the neutral, mirror-like polished steels. Examples include Lucifero (2024); Arcangelo (2024), and Mio Cuore (2023), works of considerable weight and height, which complete the fluidity of their movement toward a sinuous verticality, almost crystallizing the incandescence of the liquid state and pressing the effort and weight of this physiognomic propulsion at the base of the pedestal.

The curviform morphology of works such as Armonia (2023); Vela (2024); Elisse di Luce (2022); Moon (2024) and last but not least Flash (2024) express the tenacious capacity of the material to bend and tame itself to the artist's will and, conversely, highlight the author's extraordinary ability to imagine steel beyond its structural limits, formulating an inventory characterized not only by material virtuosity but also by the poetic ardour expressed by the sculptural bodies. The latter are not exhausted in their finalization, they continue the vivifying experience every time they are placed in a new exhibition environment: through the splendor of the mirrored surfaces, the sculptures take on unprecedented flashes of light and different colors, reflecting whatever is present in the space around them at that precise moment. This dichotomy triggered by the work on site, which sees on one side the totality of the physical body and on the other the reflected image, includes the viewer and the place in the entire cognitive process – specifically, this goes beyond the object itself, which relies on the interpretative aspect of the sculptures as much as the actions and settings recreated from and in them.

In the eidetic synthesis, GianPi Manzoni's reflective and reflected forms become virtual devices, understood for what they potentially are, not just what they actually are: just as the mirror is a tool that simulates reality and apparently projects another, these are simulacra of existence and the human condition, torn between truth and mystery, thus recognizing the real as having a dual, ambiguous, and ambivalent value, shaped between the intelligible and the sensible, between concreteness and abstraction. This renews the thinking of the renowned French philosopher Pierre Klossowski, who more than others and before others, saw in the remote verb simulare, from which the objectification of simulacrum derives—simulate + the suffix of crum (simulacrum), something that imitates another, a divine image or representation—the most suitable formula to describe modern times: a world of simulacra where things do not always have the meaning they appear to have, demonstrating the dispersive and fluid consistency of reality and its signs.

It is no coincidence that the artist establishes a profound relationship with the symbolic, in order to use it to develop his own iconographic vocabulary that extends to multiple semantic orders: from the harmonious geometric and astral forms of Tondo (2023), Armonia (2023) and Moon (2024); through Lucifer and Archangel, authentic expressions of symbolic analogy; up to the images of pop culture such as the heart, the ballerina and the Ferrari F40 car, to which the author dedicated an entire cycle of works. GianPi Manzoni's imagery is often characterised by the seriality of the subjects conceived, the delicate female profile in fact becomes the protagonist of several works, incorporating multiple meanings: muses, divine entities and mythological figures that inspire an ideal of universal beauty, recognising in it the highest human qualities and aesthetic virtues. In the dominant pictorial scenography of the work entitled Battaglia (2023), they play the role of valiant warriors, attributing courage and iron determination to women; while in the sculptural compositions such as the Oiseau Du Ciel (2025) and in particular Il Volo (2025), the winged bodies raise the spirit to noble sentiments and heroic talents, physical and moral, as an affirmation of the female identity and of the individual in general. Of similar affinity is Angeli (2025), the sculptural monument located in San Vito di Cadore, which, in addition to celebrating this new exhibition process, pays tribute to the upcoming Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Games.

With his warm enthusiasm and brilliant resourcefulness, combined with a joyful spontaneity, GianPi Manzoni invites viewers to observe themselves and see the world from a new perspective, embracing the unknown and the unexpected as universes of beauty, entrusting art and its languages ​​with the privilege of further sublimating and astonishing the human soul.