Milena Bini Italian, b. 1972
he Catch diversity installation, made up of his apples, each one the same in shape, like each of us, but different in its "characteristic appearance",
The Mele by Milena Bini (Brescia, 1972) derives from the iconographic panorama of the historical Pop culture of the Oldenburg enlargements, which, however, are part of an extremely more contemporary New Pop trend and are characterized by a distinctive note: the materials do not they are plastic, it is not the plaster used by the historic American Pop artist to revive the worn out fetishes of consumer culture (burgers, ice cream cones, cakes...) or the brilliant enamelled steel of Koons' balloons with their disturbing kitsch presence. The artist works clay, a material of the typically Mediterranean historical-artistic tradition, with great technical expertise to obtain glazed ceramics unique in their formal elegance, with iridescent, brilliant or matte colours, which fade into one another, defined by decorative elements such as studs, glitter, brilliant paints, Murano glass petioles; they are often replaced by a steel nail which acts as a hypothetical petiole, but which (be careful!) does not represent any reference to the Christian symbolism of the passion of Christ or to original sin, as one would naturally think.
Other times, his apples are characterized by the icons of commercial and mass media language, such as the palm trees with sparkling colors used to promote attractive tourist resorts, the American flag, as well as by motifs that recall expressive techniques, processes, stylistic features made iconic by the history of art: from dripping to chrome plating, from the Magrittian sky to tribal graffiti.
Bini's intent is not polemical towards mass culture, nor against the artistic system which re-proposes already exploited and consolidated linguistic forms, but rather linked to a sort of need for (self-)affirmation of the specificity of each individual, to within a society that tends towards homologation, as it is strongly influenced by the stereotypes proposed by the language of advertising information, as well as by cultural superstructures. The Catch diversity installation, made up of his apples, each one the same in shape, like each of us, but different in its "characteristic appearance", in the aesthetic characterization that the artist gives it, enriching it with multiform decorations, glazes and textures of symbolic elements. The installations composed of his sculptural apples thus become a symbol of the heterogeneous spiritual and character variety of humanity and stand in defense of the characteristics that define every human being, equal in anatomy, but not in physiognomy. The multiple interventions that Bini carries out on her sculptures become a metaphorical representation of this biological diversity. Her apples are typos.
The idea was born from the writing of the (autobiographical) story of a green apple forced to grow in a tree populated with red apples. Marginalized and suffering, the apple will complete a sort of initiatory journey that will lead it to redemption, to the acceptance of its diversity and to making it its point of reference for the valorization of itself. Milena did the same in her existential journey, using art as a salvific tool of self-affirmation. And success has arrived: from the exhibitions at the Fuori Salone in Milan to the one at Castello Quistini in Rovato (Bs), to arrive at the new Milanese restaurant of the well-known Chef Alessandro Borghese: AB. The luxury of simplicity in Milan and Venice. Finalist in the Artboxproject.Miami 2.0 competition in 2019, Award Winner “Artist of the future” Contemporary Art Curator Magazine in London and chosen among the finalists in the Artboxproject New York 2.0 competition in 2023
She exhibits in galleries and art fairs in Italy and abroad.
The Apple fell from the tree, but only to climb back up again, cloaked in glory.
