Il suono delle pietre – Alain Quesnel

The stones whisper at the Sainte-Anne chapel in La Riche

The stones resonate. They carry within them the echoes of the past and the promises of the future, layers of time stacked like a silent score that only the artist’s gesture can unveil. This dialogue between material, memory, and temporality is what Alain Quesnel and Marine Aïello explore in Il suono delle pietre, an exhibition where imaginary archaeology meets the poetry of form.

Originally from Ajaccio, Marine Aïello’s artistic approach is rooted in an exploration of relics—not to unearth them, but to create them. « Rather than digging into the earth in search of traces of the past, I could fabricate those of the future » she says. Her work, influenced by primitive firing techniques and ancient forms, constructs an archipelago of fragments at the border between reality and myth. Following her project Archaeology of the Future, she continues her exploration of memory in the making, blending sculptural installations with performance.

Opposite her, Alain Quesnel develops a singular language, made of black strokes, diluted pigments, and raw materials—lead, wax, charcoal… “Like a typographer composing a text by drawing from boxes full of forms”, he arranges, assembles, deconstructs. Each installation, each drawing becomes a fragment of an infinite library, whose order and meaning elude any linear reading. Exhibiting since the 1980s, his work oscillates between purity and density, between silence and the whisper of materials.

Together, their works engage in a dialogue centered around a shared theme: the trace, whether sculpted, drawn, or reinvented. In this face-off between stone and paper, between imprint and erasure, Il suono delle pietre invites the viewer on a journey where time is never fixed, but in perpetual resonance.

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