Biography
ABOUT PYKA-LEONE.
Umberto Leone was born in Castelvetrano, in 1961, and Ute Pyka in Frankfort on the 24 of October 1957. They now live and work together in Castelvetrano in the provice of Trapani, Italy.
The works of of Pyka-Leone are represented in many important collections and museums such as the Orestiade Foundation of Gibellina, the Antonio Presti-Fiumara d’Arte Foundation in Castel di Tusa, at the the Royal Palace of Giordan and in the office centre of Telecom-Arabia in Riyadh.
They were prize winners in the ID Magazine, New York in July/August1998 and, most recently, at the Buttita Foundation of Palermo.
Their work is based and developed upon their researches into the rapport between humanity and nature. Nature, comes from the processes and energy of creation, and of this humanity is a part. A stratification of things and events, forming solid material into a vison in which form and spirit create the very foundation of the song of nature. Because of these poetic intentions, the objects of Ute and Umberto’s enquiries become a symbol of vegitable life and the dynamic union of Sky Earth and Humanity. It was this process that created their first sculptures “Eliotropica”. The bandsaw follows the markings of natural wood discoveing and re-opening holes and spaces through which light can once again return and infiltrate as once it did as the tree grew in life.
This particular technique of working is used by the two artists for the making of furniture, objects and sculpture. At the Milan International Furniture Fair they obtained many good notices from the critics and admiration from buyers arround the world.
Ute Pyka and Umberto Leone, have become one in their researches, work and constant thoughts. They often use olive wood, the very symbol of the Mediterranean spirit and history that tells of the ancient pulse and mysteries binding man and nature.
