Dean Marino (Marino Piotti)

Text written by:

Dino Santina   (President of the Brescian Artists Association).

An adult vocation, a self-made artist, a great freedom of expression.

Here is Marino, there is no need to ask him many questions because it is a river in flood (like his Mella, which comes from Maniva and flows into the Oglio after 96 kilometers, when it is swollen after heavy rains). 

In his mountain house, surrounded by seven hectares of meadows and woods, together with his dogs and sheep, he finds energy, inspiration, he does not draw, he does not paint, he chooses the materials, recycled wood, stones without hiding their defects, indeed them . exalts with the work of his hands, under the dictation of the heart and intuition.

On the other hand - he says - Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a physically small woman, not beautiful, she came from Albania, a country then behind the scenes, yet she became a great world star, known, loved, appreciated. And he did well, very well. Here the art of Marino Piotti is a bit like the human story of this nun.

It does not cut the tree, when a living being, like a piece of wood, like the pole of a roller shutter, has finished its use, takes it back and brings it back to life with its art, with its honest message.

As if to propose a unity of purpose, he prefers to create pairs or triplets, for example three poles of wood, chestnut, but also fir and elm, brush them by hand, dig them to a minimum, create an armor with fire, giving the material a state of intangibility from external elements (remember? when a pole is planted in the ground it rots quickly if it is not treated with suitable materials or, as Marino does, with the gentle and wise use of fire); and then, in nearby Mella, look for the stones to put on top of the pole, more than a hat it is an element that completes the work, the shape is essential, not all stones are good, they must almost sink into the wood to become one body.

Sometimes he also works metal as if to redeem it from the damnatio ad metalla, the sentence to forced labor practiced in ancient Rome. Room. They are not furnishings, they are not furnishings, they are works of art that adorn your home; they are regenerated matter of new life that tempers the spirit and wisdom of our daily life.

Many have understood this and in fact closely, like from France, the United States and elsewhere, want Marino's TOTUS.