November5
New Atlantis is a project that originates from three contemporaneous works of mine called “Machines”, “Utopia” and “Cities”. In 2003, working with Bryce, I began to play around with some stone textures. I was basically inspired by the floating rocks by René Magritte, my favourite artist.
Anyway that was the starting point and my interpretation of these masterpieces was a very modest attempt only partially achieved, representing… Well, I’d say, a quite odd floating stone-egg !
Machines was a work originated from a simple study about shapes and forms but it became a three-dimensional oriented project when I started to build a scenery that could contain them.
At the same time I was working on another small project called Utopia. Once again, to improve my skills in 3D design, I was trying to build some stylized virtual cities. These metropolis were intended as idyllic place for an hypothetical future race of human beings even if, contrary to the traditional vision about utopian societies, my metropolis were huge and ultramodern in consequence of the exponential growth of the world population.
The cities of Utopia were just an exercise in the beginning, but then, as my landscapes evolved, I was cough up in a story that was growing in my mind
The story
Hundreds of years in the future (maybe thousands) the human race has evolved in a peaceful, enlightened society. In this ideal world, war is just a far memory of the past and peace is guaranteed not by dropping bombs, but by building schools. Utopia is finally a reality. Nature lives and prospers in synchrony with the urban growth and the modern cities are beautiful, almost ethereal in their architectonic magnificence: seductive arches, shining metal structures, hi-tech buildings.
During this “state of the art” era, something awakes in the depth of the Earth. Right from its “bones”, enormous spheres of rock emerge. They are living beings, animated by immaculate consciences. They were on the Earth before life itself was created but with the development of the civilization, they decided to return to the bowels of the earth, buried themselves to escape men’s notice.
Coming back to the surface, some of the spheres evolves in a new race of living beings. They’re not made of stone anymore, but appears as glowing spheres of light.
As the time goes bye, they keep changing in shapes and material: they want to communicate with men therefore, inspired by the human architecture, they become living structures made of shining steel.
At this point of the story, I start wandering about the possible end of this relationship between Machines and men. Were they really destined to live happily ever after? Well, I have to admit that this idea was fascinating… But then I began to think that in the real world such utopian society was sooner or later doomed to failure because it seems that the human race can’t live without suffering. Maybe this has something to do with the need to overcome our own limits, I don’t know. However, my illustrations became more and more dark and at the end I realized that what I was representing was the death of a civilization.
So, as you’ll see, after few bright pictures, comes the gloomy age of decline, when buildings collapse on their own foundation and skies are darkened by pollution and the evolved Machines die and turn once again to stone. And in the very end, when no living souls are left behind and the earth has become an empty and quiet desert, nature takes over ruins and rubble. And where once was civilization, only wilderness remains.
Please note: the complete display of the New Atlantis’ pictures is HERE >> (you’ll find it on the right side of the page).
