Marco Bellini

Inu Do

Woodturner

©Weronika Makowska

Spiritual meaning in primitive shapes

Marco creates wooden vessels and other sculptures
He challenges techniques and materials
His research is rooted in the investigation of primitive spirituality

Marco Bellini’s wooden sculptures are invitations to get in touch with some of our most primitive needs as human beings. Archaic and evocative, they express their author’s impulse to create in order to convey a universal, non verbal message, as our ancestors did when they drew their first paintings on cave walls. Marco crafts his wooden vessels using a variety of techniques, guided by the specific shapes and features of the piece of wood at hand. He embraces the fact fact that there is no full human control over the making. Marco lets his pieces rest so that it might take months, if not years, for them to be ready. His artistic investigation is spiritual.

Interview

©Weronika Makowska

©Weronika Makowska

Did you learn your craft from a master?: My grandfather used to restore old furniture pieces. I learned from him as a child, but woodworking become my life at a later stage, after a degree in philosophy and a first job in IT. I accomplished my training with a woodturner and learned how to master the lathe.
Is the lathe still your main tool today?: The lathe is the rational part of my craft. It is good to create functional pieces, bowls, table legs. My current research is much more about letting a primordial instinct emerge, trying to push techniques, gestures and materials over the edge.
What inspires you?: I think about primitive men drawing paintings in a cave. I see them creating something starting from a crack on a wall. What message were they trying to convey? Technique was not the point, it was about expressing self, society, individual spirituality.
What is your creative process?: I cut the tree trunk according to the fibres of the tree, and the shapes that I get are my starting point. I use and abuse techniques, materials and finishes and I let my pieces evolve, at least for six months, until they are stable.

Marco Bellini is an expert artisan: he began his career in 2013