Air

During the years 1961-62 I carried out some experiments to see if the phenomenon of (natural) erosion could be reproduced, if it was possible to recreate this process in my studio, and accelerate it. I did some of these experiments in factories where a sand jet was used to clean slag from steel fusions. Later in 1963 I built a sandblasting cabin in my studio equipped with all those tools that could give me satisfactory results and, in that same year, I began to work on sculptures on which I partially cut into with a sand jet. I used sandblasting especially to finish details. In 1964 I modified the previous cabin increasing power and creating a more complex and powerful sandblasting installation. In 1965-66 I created the first big monumental sculpture using a sand jet on the whole surface. It was the Monumento a marinai d’Italia […]. In the following years I developed my equipment […] and I started using this technique more and more often with increasingly interesting results.

(Francesco Somaini)