Wright Auction

Gianni Vallino is an Italian artist living and working out of Santa Barbara. A self-proclaimed postindustrial craftsman, Vallino creates unique lighting designs using found and repurposed objects.  Materials that at first appear industrial and cold, are imbued with new life and purpose, transforming discarded objects into precious works of art. In his own words:

These rejected, discarded, excluded objects reclaim their life beyond economic death. They wish to re-function, to recycle, to re-enter into the vortex with new iconological meaning, new significance and self-reflexive personality. They wait for the spectator to draw the distinction between art and craftsmanship as a different way of looking at the unstoppable flow of production/ consumption/ waste.

The present table lamps are constructed using reclaimed parts of a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp aircraft engine. The R-2800 saw widespread use during World War II and still powers restored vintage warbirds to this day. The artist notes that each engine component was stored in a sealed can of grease, a Cold War era precaution meant to protect the engine components in the event of a nuclear catastrophe.