Art in America: Down to Earth: Piero Gilardi at Magazzino Italian Art

Piero Gilardi’s signature “nature carpets” don’t appear credibly natural or carpet-like, which is part of their quirky charm. The artworks are sizable rectangles of polyurethane foam, into which the artist has carved intricate, earthy tableaux before saturating them with synthetic pigments, and sometimes appending other, smaller foam sculptures. The works depict contoured segments of land or, in a few cases, sea: a beach strewn with driftwood and lily pads; a mossy forest trail marked by felled tree branches; roiling ocean water with seagulls flying close to the surface. In “Tappeto-Natura” at Magazzino Italian Art, the artist’s first museum exhibition in the United States, curated by Elena Re, the twenty-five selections turn the gallery floor and walls into a cornucopia of tiled terrain.