Pirelli HangarBicocca is happy to announce the special project outside the cube in collaboration with the artist eL Seed, who developed a sitespecific work for Italy and its people
This 3rd of July the mural artwork painted by eL Seed was inaugurated. The artwork was painted on the outside walls of the Pirelli HangarBicocca as part of the project “Outside the Cube” dedicated to the art forms in the public art spaces. The intervention by eL Seed, whose works have been presented and exposed all around the world, is a site specific work. The artist invites everyone to reflect on identity and on the sense of belonging. “My main message is to invite people to embrace and accept other people in a world that is dividing us” he claims. The site specific artwork “Waves Only Exists Because the Wind Blows” by eL Seed, is the second intervention after “OSGEMEOS”, inaugurated in 2016, also part of the project outside the box curated by Cedar Lewisohn.
During the press preview the artist presents itself in Italian and tries to describe his artwork in the same language. He thinks language is the main point of connection between people. For this reason, for him it was very important to try to learn a bit of Italian during his residency in Hangar Bicocca. After some minutes he goes back to english, and he laughs “sorry for my accent”. His work was born searching for a connection with Italy and Milan when he found a quote by the renomated italian artist Cesare Pavese, from his book “La Luna e i falò”. The quote chosen by the artist: “Un paese ci vuole, non fosse che per il gusto di andarsene via”. A country is needed, if only for the sake of leaving. A quote said by the protagonist who, after living in the United States for a long time, reflects on the difficulties of living without a sense of belonging towards a place.
eL Seed, Portrait, 2024. Courtesy eL Seed and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2024. Photo Lorenzo Palmieri
Getting closer to the history and the literature of the country he works in, eL Seed always raises questions about nationality and cultural roots. The experience of crossing is what matters for the artist. Not the experience of leaving or coming back to a place an individual has called home in the past. “Where is home? Is it a place or a feeling? As human beings we all want to belong to a place”. The artist used the cube as one piece, his work follows the shape of a wave meaning that everywhere we go we leave and take something, as the sea takes and leaves the sand.
Waves Only Exist Because the Wind Blows tells a common story made by different streets and directions. The work is built with the use of different primary colors, as the artist tells the story of the diversities that arise once we try to build a new dialogue. The waves make the work seem like they start from outside the cube, then they go inside and out again. The message is a positive one, as we need positivity towards the future in a difficult period as the one we are living in. “It is important to switch the conversations, we always listen to the negative side of the stories, but the positive ones are important as well” stated the artist.
eL Seed, Waves Only Exist Because the Wind Blows, 2024 (detail). Courtesy eL Seed and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2024. Photo Lorenzo Palmieri
The creative process is hidden, people don’t see it, but the research behind the work is very important. eL Seed always wants to find a connection between his work and people. At the beginning of his work, before he paints the waves he writes the names of the people he cares about on the wall, or the people connected to the place who text him on instagram. So, they will always remain on the walls, under the paint of his work.
Waves Only Exists Because the Wind Blows will be permanent on the cube building of the HangarBiccocca in Milan, and the artist has agreed to come back and renovate when it will be needed.
Cover Image: eL Seed, Waves Only Exist Because the Wind Blows, 2024. Courtesy eL Seed and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2024. Photo Lorenzo Palmieri