The journey began in San Pier Niceto on July 22ndwhen the Tyrrhenian hill municipality in the province of Messina had assigned the honorary citizenship to Emilio Isgrò, the conceptual artist born in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (his paternal grandfather was from San Pier Niceto), became famous throughout the world for his “erasures” and also known as a playwright, poet and writer.
Now the large truck, 17 meters long “carrying an ant”, which appeared for the first time on that occasion, is moving towards Basel again, in Switzerland. After having stopped near the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome on the occasion of the initiative “Artist at Gnam, Emilio Isgrò protagonist 2024”, what we can define as a self-propelled conceptual work of art, entitled “The wandering ant”, today he will stop in Milan, at 10 am, near the Triennale, in front of the great monument of which Isgrò himself is the author, “The Seed of the Altissimo”, in Piazza Alemagna.
«Making small things big» is the phrase that contains the poetics and artistic logic of Isgrò, a way of dealing «with the contemporary issues of migration and globalization», when it appears increasingly necessary that the contribution of cultures is not lost and local traditions. But it is certainly no coincidence that the infinitely small, represented by the ant, is found, with the comfort of modern armor or armor represented by the large truck, compared to an enormous sculpture, which represents an orange seed (remembering the sculpture that Isgrò gave to Barcelona many years ago) enlarged one billion and 500 million times. Whether by erasing or enlarging, the Sicilian artist obtains the same effect, which allows him to underline even a single concept to the point of bringing it to the fore plan, as an exemplary expression of something that the world needs, even when it believes it can do without it, blinded by the necessary technological progress. This, according to Isgrò, always has within itself the infinite and small seed that can beautify (and save) the world.
Immediately after the Milanese appointment, the “wandering ant”, living up to its name, will set off again towards the Art Basel 2024 fair, one of the most important in the world, scheduled in Basel from 13 to 16 June, where it will be presented by Tornabuoni Art, opening the Unlimited section. An international stage for the little-big ant that started from San Pier Niceto.