Francesco Arena
Ash Horizon, 2018Moroccan gray stone, cigar ash166.5 × 20 × 20 cm (65 9⁄16 × 7 7⁄8 × 7 7⁄8 inches)
From a block of rough stone, a column/plinth 166.5 cm high (the artist's height) was cut, and then left in its natural ash gray colour. After this, the column was divided into two pieces: one 157 cm high—the distance from the lowest point of the artist's eyes to the ground—and the other 8.5 cm high—the distance from the highest point of the artist's eyes to the highest point of the artist's body. When the sculpture was reassembled, the 11mm of scrap material from the saw was replaced with 11mm of ash from cigarettes the artist had smoked.
The 11 mm of ash corresponding to the artist's eyes makes the height of the column again the same as the artist's.
