In this catalogue, the aquatic theme emerges as a formal and symbolic paradigm in Mario Airò’s work. For an artist who declares he wishes to shape even the space that houses his work, water, formlessness in its liquid state, is almost an idiosyncrasy. If form is in the foreground, one must not forget in the background the symbolic power this element historically brings with it, to the point that it becomes the metaphor of an age in sociologist Zygmunt Bauman’s – now overused – definition, increasingly embracing all aspects of human existence: love, fear, life, modernity.
The course of this work of Airò’s now converges in the project Modellare l’acqua. On this occasion the focus is the subject of water itself:“almost – in the words of the artist – as though we wanted to put this affinity into operation meaning what I do produces an evocative habitat that might encourage this inclination towards active contemplation.” He feels “challenged to find an equivalent for it in sculpture, to seek a restitution above all of its spell, its grace, its sound, which is pure silence.”11 At the centre of his reasoning are the movements of water, the micro-flows found in places such as river and stream beds, the pebbles and recesses that inhabit these places and that shape and model the flow of the liquid.

Tirana, Bazament, February - March 2020
Castelbasso, Palazzo De Sanctis, July 2020