Bamboo Lights
This series of lamps was first shown at the exhibition "Cheerfully optimistic about the future" at the ICA Milano in September 2021. The ideation of the show, curated by Alberto Salvadori and developed by Anastassiades and his studio has been accompanied by the desire to build a project characterized from the strong “hand – made” feature for the realization of the works, involving in first person the artist and his collaborators.
The backbone of the works’ realization is the bamboo, a new material for Anastassiades’ studio, which represents a departure from its usual language of geometric, controlled forms while the base is made of poured pewter, a metal chosen for its low melting point. The works produced for the exhibition embrace the material’s inherent irregularity, paired with an overall language of repeating, iterative configurations. Along with the use of natural materials such as bamboo or the linen thread, other details that do not try to hide the workings of the pieces are present, such as the exposed holders for the bulbs or the exposed connections and cables, elements that emphasize the dialogue between the components eliminating any possible hierarchy. According to Anastassiades’ minimalist aesthetic, the bulbs have the shape of pure cylinders of glass, which inevitably evoke the emblematic neon sculptures by Dan Flavin realized in the ‘60s.
