SOUTH AFRICA'S RENOWNED CONTEMPORARY SCULPTOR

"I am interested in making things that prompt a sense of the complexity of the present." Marco Cianfanelli - born in Johannesburg in 1970.

Marking the 50-year anniversary of what began Nelson Mandela’s ‘long walk to freedom’ – and the piece of land that, quite randomly, irrevocably altered the history of South Africa – is a quietly powerful new sculpture, set into the environment of this silently potent space. Made possible by the Department of Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) the uMngeni Municipality, the Apartheid Museum and the KwaZulu Natal Heritage Council (AMAFA) in association with the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, this historic memorial site.

The sculpture, by artist Marco Cianfanelli, significantly comprises 50 steel column constructions – each between 6.5 and 9.5 metres tall – set into the Midlands landscape. The approach to the site, which has been designed by architect Jeremy Rose of Mashabane Rose Associates, leads one down a path towards the sculpture where, at a distance of 35 meters, a portrait of Nelson Mandela, looking west, comes into focus, the 50 linear vertical units lining up to create the illusion of a flat image.

Description

Title: the mind’s vine

Installation date: May 2010

Specifications

Dimensions: height 3.72 meters, length 9.34 meters, depth 1.6 meters

Weight: 1.6 tons

Material; 4.5mm and 6mm Gr.304 stainless steel

Wine is a rich and complex phenomenon that touches on an extensive array of other subjects, which include art & history, religion & mythology, geography, politics and sociology, science and sensory perception, tradition & modernization. This complexity is the inspiration for the mind’s vine, which was commissioned for Tokara Wine Estate.

Mountain Leopard
COR-TEN steel,

Height 9.2 meters length 9.98 meters, depth 0.75 meters, weight 1.8 tons

2011

This sculpture of a leopard standing on a mountain-peak is intended as an Iconic landmark that has a visual and contextual relationship to the Leopard’s Leap winery, the surrounding mountains of Franschhoek and the protected mountain leopards that inhabit them. The method of creating form through construction of laser-cut profiles, which is common in the artist’s work, creates a dynamic between abstraction and figuration, moving away from conventional forms of representation.

The leopard strides forward proudly, set high up against the skyline of the surrounding mountains. It is slightly smaller than life-size, exaggerating the distance from the viewer. The three steel profiles that create the head of the leopard represent the logo of Leopard’s Leap.

Inner City - The City Within

Dimensions: height 33.04 meters, width 16.24 meters, depth 0.7085 meters.

Material: Stainless steel

The title of the artwork is a reference to the image created by the reflective, perforated steel screen-panels that clad the catwalks and columns of the atrium. The image is a montage of several photographs taken during the construction of ABSA Towers West. The photographs were taken from the fourth-floor catwalk, of the view along Marshal Street, to the western side of the city. The resulting image is a representation of the city and the daily activities of the people that inhabit it. Larger figures are superimposed onto this image at the levels of the catwalks, creating a relationship between the image of the city and the people that work in the building.

DICC Sculpture document

Description

Two groups of figure profiles, mounted on the granite plinths, next to the stairwells (main entrance).

Title: Incarceration - emancipation

Installation date: October 2009

Specifications

Dimensions (Southern stairwell): 1750mm tall x 1190mm wide x 3310mm deep

Dimensions (Northern stairwell): 1760mm tall x 1015mm wide x 3310mm deep

Material: 10mm HRMS

Finish: Rusted metal polished with pigmented wax

Installation: Profile pins anchored to plinth with epoxy (2 to 3 pins per profile)

Figure profile colour: Customized variation of colour

Title: Eternal pursuit - DST Sculpture

Rusted mild steel

Height: 6.2 meters, excluding plinth

Installation date: May 2006

The motivation for Eternal pursuit was to speak about science and technology in a manner that was bold and inspiring, yet familiar. The title symbolizes our ceaseless endeavors through science, to understand as well as control our universe.

The larger-than-life silhouette of a man, combined with arcs, creates the profiles that are repeated 24 times in a radial arrangement that is symmetrical. These profiles are connected to horizontal rings, creating a spherical structure that suggests measurement and analysis, be it molecular or universal. The view of the sculpture remains unchanged, always facing you, regardless of your vantage point, creating a sense of balance and continuity.

Science is a human preoccupation, which we define, and yet in return, we are defined by science. Within this dynamic, rests the value that science can have for humanity.

“Standing man” sculpture, off Hilda Street

Title: Urban Being

Rusted steel with painted steel panels

Largest dimension approximately 11.9 meters talll (excluding concrete plinth)

The Fields

Weight: approx. 8 tons

Installation date: December 2010

The sculpture is a response to the Clients’ brief for a large and engaging work of art that would suit the allocated site of the traffic circle, to the north of the The Fields’ City lodge complex.

The sculpture is a large three-dimensional construction, derived from the silhouette of a man in a suit, which has been further translated into rectilinear shapes that form the faceted sculptural construction. This form alludes to the urban quality of The Fields and specifically to aspects of the northern façade of the building behind the sculpture. The painted panels attached to the sculpture enhance this architectural quality, as do the numerous “tiny” characters that inhabit the large form of the man. As one moves around the sculpture, this play on man as structure or place of dwelling becomes more apparent.

The monumental presence of the sculpture is a significant beacon or landmark, yet it benevolently welcomes the traffic and pedestrians, coming from the northeast and the northwest.

https://marcocianfanelli.com/

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SOUTH AFRICA'S RENOWNED CONTEMPORARY SCULPTOR