ITALIAN JOURNEY – PROGRAMME 2

LECCE – RENZO BUTTAZZO – SCULPTOR FROM LECCE

Renzo Buttazzo is a sculptor from Puglia who uses the soft Leccese stone in an unusual way.

James: Is this all made out of Lecce stone?

Renzo Butazzo: Of course, stone from Lecce.  All the churches and houses you have seen so far are made from the same material.  It’s the same.

James: My goodness!  I love this one!  Isn’t it heavy?

Renzo Butazzo: Yes, it’s quite heavy!  Definitely.  But it’s all one piece.  It really is a single piece of stone.

James: Can I try it?

Renzo Butazzo: Of course. Sit down. Stretch out. Go on, go ahead.

James: Ah, like this. Oh goodness! And these strange ones here – aren’t they heavy?

Renzo Butazzo: No, they’re not that heavy. Look!  Try this one, look.  See, this stone weighed 45 kilos to start with.  Now it only weighs eight.  It has been completely hollowed out by hand, then sculpted, you see, and now it’s really light.

James: Doesn’t it break easily?

Renzo Butazzo: No, no. Look.

James: Goodness! It’s strange because it’s just like coral.

Renzo Butazzo: Yes, just like coral.  I have done a lot of diving, both in Central America and Indonesia, in the Indian Ocean, and here too – because we have some beautiful coastlines – and this is where I got my inspiration.  So, the detail you can see in this cup, can you see?  This is an enlargement of madrepore coral, the base of the reef, where the coral is attached.  This is called madrepore coral. This is an enlargement.  That’s what it looks like magnified millions of times!

James: Is it done by hand?  Completely hand-made? 

Renzo Butazzo: I sculpt them all by hand, with a hammer and chisel.  All the work is done by hand. More than anything else I wanted to give this stone a completely new look.  Because we can’t always see it in the same way.  Also because the baroque style – reproduction baroque, in other words – columns are quite heavy, which is something I’ve tried to eliminate.  I try to give the stone a certain lightness.  I’ll show you how the stone is sculpted.  Here we are, this is the workshop.

James: OK, what fantastic light!

Renzo Butazzo: Great light, isn’t it?!  Yes, it was designed on purpose.  And this is Lecce stone.  This is the stone I use.  See, these are the blocks I order from the quarry.

James: Ah, are they cut for you?

Renzo Butazzo: Yes, yes, they cut them specially for me.

James: Then what happens?

Renzo Butazzo: When they arrive we take them and start working straight on the block of stone.  Do you want to dsee how we work?  Wait, I’ll just take this off for a minute.

James: These are the tools?

Renzo Butazzo: These are the tools I use for working.  They’re all carpenter’s tools.  I use the same tools a carpenter uses for carving wood.  They are traditional tools.  I only use tools that people used to use in the past.  Stone cutters used these tools: a hammer and chisel.  You see, this is the big block, 50 centimetres square.  I have drawn the natural shape with a pencil, and then I start with the hammer and chisel.  You see, it’s a very soft stone.  In fact it’s a sandstone.  It was formed in the Neolithic period.  Four million years ago.

James: So it is sedimentary?

Renzo Butazzo: It’s a sedimentary rock.

James: Was Lecce under the sea? 

Renzo Butazzo: Lecce was on a sandbank.  During the ice ages this sand solidified and became Lecce stone.

James: You have travelled a lot.  What interests me is why you came back here to Lecce?

Renzo Butazzo: I can’t stay away from my land.  I am very attached to this place.  I’m very attached to this material and to the work I do.  So I couldn’t really leave.  I have been working with this stone for twenty years now, and I can’t leave this stone or my house, the place I live – which gives me the mental space I need to work and to create.

James: I can understand that.  Can you show me a finished piece?

Renzo Butazzo: Of course!  Come on, let’s go through.