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Janus Lab Italy

Foreign Soldier - Alien Enemy

Foreign Soldier - Alien Enemy

€450,00
€450,00
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Foreign Soldier - Alien Enemy

I think of the soldier on enemy territory—one who crosses borders under uncertain circumstances. To the locals, he is foreign. He is the enemy. He is an alien presence. He is treated as such: sometimes with curiosity, more often with suspicion.

But this story belongs to every village, in every age. It begins when unfamiliar youths step into the village square. It repeats when a new laborer arrives, or when a colleague joins an established team. The foreigner is everywhere.

Our ancestral fear sharpens the senses. It urges us to watch, to guard, to defend —because we are accustomed to feeling overwhelmed. The foreigner is always strange to us. When they begin to mix with us, we resists the civil act of welcoming, integrating, and sharing what is ours.

And yet, those who enter foreign territory often seek something else: to win affection, to earn trust, to belong.

This mask embodies that tension—that feeling of being unwelcome. A soldier unlike us. Or perhaps simply a man wearing a mask, recalling the uneasy memory of COVID-19, when invisible foreign agents abruptly invaded our comfortable homes

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Enamel - Le Grand Feu

“Smalti a Fuoco_ Un’arte di Sottecchio”

The art of fire enameling is an ancient and highly complex craft.

Rooted in precise gestures and knowledge acquired over time, it has, through the centuries, transformed simple metals—such as copper or silver—into objects of great value and artistic significance.

Today, it is largely confined to a few specialized creations and is often mistaken for industrially produced items or those made with polymer-based enamels. As a result, it remains mostly associated with traditionally styled aesthetic prototypes.

Only in rare cases has it broken free from classical aesthetics, giving rise to modern works crafted using ancient techniques—thanks to great, though now nearly forgotten, artisans.

These are the foundations of our own deeply personal journey: not only a rediscovery of enamel’s potential, but also a search for a new, contemporary language—one that reimagines how fire enameling can still express beauty and sophistication today.

The Origin of ...

Stories of ancient civilizations lost to time—where traces begin to resurface through climate change and environmental degradation. Both in icy regions and equatorial rainforests, new signs of past civilizations emerge.

Starting from those same carved stones—faces sculpted by ancient hands—I began to wonder about human expression: how to represent it, how to give it form. I started experimenting with shaping expressions -mimicking ancient relics- on copper, sculpting the metal and recreating those same lines. The hammer transforms the material in two ways: on one side it expands and deforms the surface; on the other, it leaves marks rich with texture.

It became inevitable for me to begin sculpting real faces, seeking to capture their emotions—their wonder, sadness, and joy. I am fascinated by how ancient civilizations, and more broadly by how cultures, have sought to depict their people—their identity, their symbolism, their spirit. That is the path this project follows.