Aluminum Sculpture by Mitchellini

Mitchellini uses a high technology method to make contemporary metal sculpture. He has developed a technique, which he learned from the aircraft industry, in which an armature is draped with hand-shaped pieces of aluminum sheet metal and registered with respect to each other. The many pieces are fastened together with rivets to make an integrated whole sculpture, which is lightweight and colossal in scale. The nature of the aluminum (being difficult to form) influences and limits the form. In this sense Mitchellini keeps alive a sculptural tradition in which the artist is interested in the world outside the artist's self. namely the nature of sheet metal--it's limitations and possibilities.

Mitchellini's interest in the greater intimacy between his material and the "spirit of art" is evident also in the subject of the nude. The nude for him represents the subject which is most loaded with meaning and the subject which is the ultimate test of artistic proficiency. The proportions that Mitchellini uses have a subtle and precise harmony that comes from many years of experience. The effect of the lines and proportions make for a nude that is both chaste and sensual , not vulgar or dehumanizing.

Theses qualities taken together give Mitchellini's art monumentality. They are suitable for public display. Their size, power , massive simplicity, and dignity, serve an old sculptural function of public monument. The sculpture has this monumental quality inside or outside. The only necessary additional treatment for outside display is a coating of a 2-part clear paint. Whether displayed inside or out, the work is monumental and yet accessible to modern sensibilities.