Fures #15 by Alice Zanin
With Fures #15, Alice Zanin gives shape to a creature suspended between a real animal and a fantastic vision. The sculpture, made of papier-mâché, iron, acrylic, and resin, features a slender, elongated body supported by thin limbs and a long tail that curls through space with an elegant and dynamic gesture. The figure appears light and almost unstable, as if captured in a moment of silent movement.
The artist: Alice Zanin
Born in Piacenza in 1987, Alice Zanin is an Italian contemporary sculptor who has chosen papier-mâché as the primary material of her artistic research. A self-taught artist, since 2012 she has developed a personal language based on stylized animal figures suspended between reality and imagination. Her works, characterized by extreme lightness and delicate chromatic surfaces, evoke fragility, transformation, and a subtle sense of poetry.
Description of Fures #15
The sculpture depicts a stylized creature with long, slender limbs and an almost skeletal structure. The body, built in papier-mâché and supported by iron elements, maintains a delicate balance between fragility and stability.
The long, curved tail becomes a fundamental compositional element: it draws a wide arc in space and contributes to defining the movement of the work. The head, with its simplified and almost caricature-like forms, suggests a curious and alert gaze.
The painted surface reveals traces of color and subtle chromatic variations that enhance the epidermal quality of the sculpture, transforming the material into a sensitive and vibrant skin.
Meaning of Fures #15
In Fures #15, Alice Zanin explores the relationship between fragility and resilience. Papier-mâché, a humble and lightweight material, becomes the medium through which the artist constructs surprisingly precise and refined forms.
The creature represented does not belong to a recognizable species: it is a hybrid figure, suspended between real animal and invention. This ambiguity invites the viewer into an imaginative territory where identity becomes fluid and open.
The sculpture thus suggests a reflection on the precariousness of existence and the possibility of transformation. In its apparent delicacy, the figure reveals a silent strength: that of a presence sustained through balance and lightness.
Conclusion
Fures #15 is a poetic and striking sculpture. Through an essential form and a fragile material, Alice Zanin creates a creature capable of evoking movement, imagination, and vulnerability. The work lies within the subtle boundary between reality and dream that characterizes the artist’s research, transforming papier-mâché into a refined medium of contemporary expression.