A standing figure, nude and still, holds a slender rod. The face is absent, replaced by a raw, unworked stone that rises from the shoulders like a geological formation, heavy and ancient against the delicate articulation of the modeled gypsum body. The figure stands on a Carrara marble base, grounded and monumental despite its intimate scale.

Where Come Pietre Nel Paesaggio IV places the human face against the stone, the stone is the face, the site of identity, and the body beneath it is rendered with quiet anatomical precision. The effect is at once ancient and immediate, recalling the votive figurines of antiquity while asking a more unsettling question: what if identity is not something we carry inside us, but something we are made of, as old and resistant as stone?

Giuseppe Agnello is a sculptor and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo, known for his portrait bronzes of Leonardo Sciascia and Andrea Camilleri. His work engages with identity, memory, and the deep relationship between the human figure and the Sicilian landscape.

Come Pietre Nel Paesaggio IV is presented as part of IL BIVIO III: Mosaica, Coexistence without Resolution, on view at Nomad Art Collective, Sambuca di Sicilia (AG), May 9 through July 4, 2026. This work is available for purchase.