Gerard Prohias Fornós

We present a unique exhibition, featuring many pieces that were shown at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence in the summer of 2023. Meccano. An approach that appears technical at first glance—almost a work of engineering—to objects that, in our imagination, carry playful and childlike connotations. But let’s not be misled: the meccano are true works of art in every sense, because they ultimately lead us to where we should always arrive when facing any work of art—aesthetic emotion, whether through a punch in the gut, a half-ironic smile or a fine, steady, sensitive rain.

These artistic artefacts—always strange and estranged—enter our everyday lives and surprise us, because when we see them, we understand that they reference something intangible that speaks to us. We cannot stop looking at the meccano: at first, intrigued; then, focused; eventually, disoriented by what they tell us from within their spell.

From the original object—metallic, brightly coloured, and concrete—we move immediately toward abstraction. What was once a tree, a bicycle, or the head of a horse becomes a sculpture that unsettles us with its unusual presence. Yes, at first glance, they may look like a game. But it’s clear that it’s a very serious game, with a fully developed artistic gesture.

We live in uncertain times, excessively volatile, where perfidy hovers like a dark and devastating angel. These meccano sketch out other worlds for us—worlds of superba raffinatezza, great delicacy and lucid irony that guide our gaze. And in the end, as the Bolognese art critic Marilena Pasquali once wrote about the work of our artist: after everything, everything, everything, what remains is beauty.

Gerard Prohias Fornós