The present exhibition features both mixed media paintings and sculptures that represent a continuation of Sciascia’s abiding interest in light, and an exploration of the material and motific forms that one of the most fundamental elements of our universe may be embodied in. For the artist, light – and, of course, energy – constitutes the evolution of life and human civilization as we know it, playing a transformative role in the development of mankind’s technological ascendancy.

As he puts it: “All of the energy on Earth originates from the Sun throughout history. Today we still generate electricity from fossil fuels, which are the remains of plants and animals that lived millennia ago – when, for the first time, we also had the idea of making a graphic mark with charcoal from burned wood, forever changing the way we communicate. What we were creating was a language that marks the foundation of our civilization, just like today’s computer language.”

Featured in the exhibition are works that utilize volcanic sand and quartz, both materials from which silicon, and thus computer chips and other high-tech hardware, are ultimately derived; paintings that incorporate LED lights into their compositions, replacing the technique of chiaroscuro with actual light; works that are made from fossiled amber, a material that serves as a fossil record of our natural universe. Sciascia’s work encompasses various histories, and the role that light has played in them: the history of evolution, the history of technology, the history of communication and, of course, the history of art.