Lorenzo Montinaro (Taranto, 1998) lives and works in Milan. After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and the IUAV in Venice, he began an artistic research project that explores the themes of memory, language, and the changing face of time, both conceptually and materially. Since 2020, he has been a member of the multidisciplinary collective Friche and was an artist in residence at Viafarini in Milan in 2022.
His work focuses on disused gravestones recovered by marble miners near cemeteries. Working slowly by hand, he partially removes the original inscriptions. These interventions generate new linguistic forms and poetic or confusing epigraphs, restoring visibility to materials doomed to oblivion. The seemingly destructive gesture of erasure becomes, for the artist, an act of care and re-signification.
He has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including "What the Fuck Is Prosperity" (A plus A, Venice), "Salon des Refusés" (Spazio Canonica, Milan), "Visioni (s)velate" (Viafarini), "Abitare lo spazio" (Festival delle arti della Giudecca), "Monumento" (Bolzano Art Weeks), "ReA! Art Fair" (Milan), and a solo exhibition at Casavuota in Rome, curated by Francesco Paolo Del Re and Sabino De Nichilo.
Montinaro's work is characterized by its highly symbolic language, in which drama and irony coexist, as well as by a reflection on the relationship between word, matter, and memory in a continuous process of layering and rewriting.
In the quiet Teatro degli Ulivi in Borgo di Campo, Lorenzo Montinaro's work stands as a tangible sign of human transition, a warning carved in stone that defies the oblivion of time. The artist's intervention in nature is not a fleeting gesture, but an act of permanence: the use of marble, a noble and immortal material, lends the work a solemnity reminiscent of the ancient monumental tradition. Yet Montinaro does not limit himself to celebrating memory in a conventional way. His tombstone, stripped of the usual narratives of memory, is transformed by absence and subtraction.
The letters left on the surface of the stone – "eri," "era," "ero" – acquire the power of an echo, a memory that recalls the past and brings it back to the present. They are simple yet meaningful words that reflect the fragility of existence and the mutability of places. In this context, the tombstone becomes a secular monument, a sign of respect and remembrance for a geographical place losing its human presence. Today, Borgo di Campo is confronted with the loss of human life. Montinaro thus becomes a guardian of the past, emphasizing the importance of remembering who we were, so that the past does not completely disappear into the silence of the present.
Located in the centuries-old shade of olive trees just outside the city, the work also takes on a strong symbolic and naturalistic value. The olive tree, a symbol of peace, resilience, and continuity, becomes a silent guardian of memory, a witness to an eternal dialogue between humanity and nature. The choice of this location lends the work a sacred dimension, in which the natural cycle of life is intertwined with the permanence of human memory.
The decision to place the work in a place that was once a warm border and marked by military memory adds another layer of meaning. The tombstone, a symbol of eternal remembrance, is no longer merely a testimony to private mourning, but becomes a collective memory, a warning for future generations. This dialogue between monument and landscape is reflected in Foscolo's conception of the tomb, which in "Dei Sepolcri" is considered an essential instrument for preserving memory and cultural identity. Montinaro seems to embrace this vision, transforming his work into a place of meditation and remembrance, where the memory of the past continues to dialogue with the present. Thus, the tombstone is transformed from a simple memorial object into the guardian of a history, a community, and a place, affirming that memory can continue to live even in abandonment and silence, carved in stone and in the souls of those who still observe and remember.
