Cristiano Di Martino | Part 2 | The Making of: 'Vessel'& 'Tabernacle'

The Vessel and Tabernacle works are made also of hand modelled polymer clay. To be precise, a mix of two or more varieties of polymer clay which, combined together, offers this characteristic melting effect when pulled in pieces. Di Martino starts the basic structure with an aluminum armature of mesh and rods or at times glass vases. On these underlying structures, the artist later builds up layers by firing them in a traditional oven at 130°c/140°c.  

To strengthen the sculptures, Cristiano sometimes coat them in epoxy resin, which resembles the appearance of a classic ceramic glaze.

Cristiano Di Martino began using polymer clay as the closest thing to ceramic because of the limits of working with ceramic and porcelain: from the lack equipment to the limits of the material itself. 'I recently started frequenting a pottery studio in London where I'm working with pottery, ceramics and porcelain and while I'm learning of the techniques and the possibilities of this media I'm also finding out the rigidity of is material properties.'

This recent series of sculptures  specifically references the appearance of Eighteenth-Century Neapolitan white porcelain - a link which Di Martino approaches with mixed media.

About Cristiano Di Martino's training

cristiano was trained in traditional techniques from very young age with a local Tuscan Maestro. From him, the young artist received an education comparable to what you would have found in a Bottega of the Italian Renaissance. Later at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Cristiano's teacher adopted a traditional approach to the techniques but combined it with more contemporary subject matter and themes. "I try to maintain this consideration of the past and traditional processes in my works, studying how things where made traditionally and bringing them into my present through contemporary subject matter."