Luca Freschi

The fragment is central to his visual language. Bodies, vessels, flowers and everyday elements are removed from their usual functions and brought into new relationships. Painted surfaces, fractures and traces of the making process keep the material nature of sculpture visible. His work approaches vanitas and memento mori through images that combine fragility, beauty and, at times, references to popular imagery.

His bodies of work include Cariatidi, vertical constructions that stack forms and evoke the weight of memory; Breviari, intimate compositions related to votive offerings; and Pavimenti d’ombre, installations that place fragments on the floor. In these works, objects become signs of experiences, losses and connections, allowing a personal history to remain open to different readings.

His engagement with historic spaces is an important part of his career. In Never ending, presented in Mantua in 2023, his sculptures entered into dialogue with works at the Museo Diocesano Francesco Gonzaga and the architecture of the Basilica of Sant’Andrea. In 2024, Dialoghi Paralleli brought his work together with that of Jorge Egea in Barcelona, at the MEAM and the Museu Diocesà, exploring the continuity and reinterpretation of classical culture and religious iconography.

His international career includes In the Earth Time, an exhibition organized by MIC Faenza for the 2017 Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale in South Korea. In 2019 he presented his Cariatidi in Intersezioni at the Museo Nazionale di Ravenna, as part of the sixth Biennial of Contemporary Mosaic. In 2020 the project was presented at the Museo Ebraico in Bologna, extending his exploration of memory through the encounter between the sculptures and the museum’s narrative.

Recent projects include Se chiudo gli occhi il buio non mi vede, developed in two acts between L’Ariete artecontemporanea and the Raccolta Lercaro in Bologna in 2024–2025, and Tomorrow in the battle think of me at Manuel Zoia Gallery, Milan, in 2025. In 2026 he presented Sine die at the Centre Artesania Catalunya in Barcelona: a reflection on time, erosion and the transformation of matter, placing ceramics at the center of a contemplative experience.