When the act of folding becomes painting

Folding process

Folded Art is a technique that originates from direct observation and lived experience. It took shape during my early professional years in the fashion industry, while witnessing the industrial processing of leather inside Tuscan factories. Those environments dense with fumes, repetitive gestures, and mechanical rhythms became the first visual and conceptual reference for this body of work.

The folded canvas recalls the treatment of animal hides: tanning, pressing, softening, and compressing matter until it changes identity. In this process, painting absorbs gestures borrowed from industry and craftsmanship, translating them into a pictorial language rooted in repetition, pressure, and transformation.

Color is applied while the canvas is folded. Pigment is trapped inside the creases, compressed between layers of fabric, then released when the surface is reopened. The result is a series of symmetrical stains and mirrored forms that emerge from the folds themselves. These marks are not painted directly they are generated by contact, weight, and time.

The chromatic atmosphere of the works reflects the environmental impact of certain industrial practices within the leather sector. Toxic fumes, chemical residues, and polluted liquids become implicit references, influencing the tonal range of the paintings. Darkened hues, smoky gradients, and muted surfaces evoke a landscape altered by excessive processing.

Folded Art is not only a technique but a statement. It questions the idea of constant transformation and over-manipulation of matter. Through these works, I reflect on humanity’s growing inability to recognize beauty in simplicity and purity. The act of folding becomes both a physical gesture and a metaphor: an image of pressure, concealment, and irreversible change.

Painting, in this context, does not decorate or represent. It records.
It preserves traces of a process where material, gesture, and experience converge.