Daniel Steegmann Mangrané | Eri Sáli, 2021

Eri Sáli (2021) is an additional element in “A Leaf-Shaped Animal Draws the Hand,” the solo exhibition of works by Daniel Steegmann Mangrané held at Pirelli HangarBicocca (2019-2020). For the occasion, the artist is presenting a limited edition inspired by one of the works in the exhibition, Elegancia y Renuncia (2011), which consists of a dried leaf, engraved with circular patterns and lit up by a projector in the exhibition hall. Like the installation, this limited-edition work represents the silhouette of a leaf picked up by the artist in the Amazon rainforest. Made of brass, it has holes in it that point to the work of insects on its surface. Poetically evoking the ill-defined borderline between nature and culture – a recurring concept in the art of Steegmann Mangrané – the shape of Eri Sáli is partly cut out by the artist and partly shaped spontaneously by the fauna that inhabits that particular ecosystem. Each work in the series displays unique features caused by slight variations in way the brass has oxidised. The title is a juxtaposition of two terms in Tupi Guaraní, a sub-family of indigenous languages of South America: Eri means “leaf”, while Sáli can have different meanings, including the shape of a canoe and that of the tip of an arrow, but also – as in this case – the profile of a leaf.