ANTONIO ROVALDI

DOMANI PENSAMI IN BATTAGLIA, 2013

Milan. 7 October 2013

Dear Borja,

         Here the sky is overcast and it has been raining non-stop since this morning. After having gone through a whole spate of doubts and changes of mind, I have finally decided to undertake the trip from Milan to Madrid to return the little figurine that I found lying on a sheet in the Rastro market two years ago, around the time of my first exhibition at the gallery. Do you remember? It was Sunday and we were walking through the crowd and I decided to go back and buy it. For the last two years it has been sitting on the table from where I am writing to you now, still without it’s arms.I came across an old bicycle in a shop that was about to close down and over the last few weeks I have been trying to rebuild it for the trip. It didn’t cost much but it was in terrible shape, nearly as bad as the figurine. Tomorrow morning I have to go to a workshop on the outskirts of the city to decide on the colour, though I might just leave it as it is: the colour of steel. It is beautiful, with brass welding, and it even has a little carrier on the back which will be useful for carrying the sculpture. I can’t see myself setting off for Spain before the next ten days. I am not in good shape and I have no idea what kind of roads are waiting for me because I haven’t even had a good look at the map of Spain. From Milan I will head towards Genoa and take a boat from the port there to Barcelona. If everything goes OK, I will go down from Barcelona to Valencia along the coast and from there I will cut across country to Madrid, passing through Benicarló, Cantavieja, Castillejo del Romeral, Pastrana and Villar del Olmo. I hope the weather will be alright and I won’t have to pedal too much under the rain, but if that is the case I will wear the green army cape I found a few days ago in an old shop in Rome. It is really big and when you open it up it is like a Bedouin cloak. Luckily the sculpture doesn’t weigh very much even though it’s bronze. I am going to carry it in a wooden box. I hope it doesn’t get stolen during the trip, otherwise we run the risk of finding an empty pedestal in the gallery. I will take good care of it because, without the sculpture, I don’t know whether I will be able to explain the reason for so much effort; it is not as if its presence in the gallery makes things simpler, but at least I won’t be on my own! Anyway, I’ll see you soon in Madrid and I’ll keep you up to date during the trip. I don’t have much time and I want to leave as soon as possible so that I arrive before the opening.

See you soon
Antonio

Domani pensami in battaglia, global view of the installation, single channel video projection (digital, colour, sound, 8'41"), wall painting, bronze scolpture, bike, raincot, light, three black & white prints on baryte paper framed (two 39.5 x 26.5 cm each and one 50 x 43 cm, ed: 2+1 AP), letter, 2013

...during the journey

Artforum, Javier Ontoria

 all images © Antonio Rovaldi