Terrestre is a minimal expository elegy for air and water, fundamental elements for the generation of life and the organic survival of the planet – and discussed as such since the presocratic philosophical tradition – but which have become increasingly reduced in quantity and quality. While for the classical economists of the 18th century such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo, the forbears of the contemporary liberalism, water and air could not be assigned a monetary value because they were thought to be of unlimited quantity, Simeti has staged a troubling reflection on the precariousness of the two elements. A sense of spleen comes through in his collages, generated by an observation of sky and water that is only indirect, mediated as it is by fragile photo clippings from newspapers, images perhaps of a collective gaze that has become too myopic to see the clear need to stop the loss and impoverishment of life. […]

A sculptural group entitled Muro hinders access to one part of the gallery, made up of elements in turquoise glass paste, artifacts produced by the artist inspired by the material compositions of finds of ancient civilizations. From a form that is near to classical architectural elements, or hard biological aggregates, such as shells, in their shape, lines and color, these elements resemble the shields and body armor of modern police forces. They evoke in Simeti the apprehension, personally experienced by the artist, caused by the appearance in the streets of US cities of the “Blue Lives Matter” movement, which by parading the color of the police forces laid claim to a political dominion of a white, violent and militaristic nature. It is an insinuation that comes increasingly closer to an undefined yet alarming image, almost a Kafkian odradek, the final gloss on a process in which the artist appeals to the viewers with the silent strength of materials that are entirely terrestrial, analogue and friable, paper, terracottas and newspaper clippings.

Excerpt from the text by Luigi Fassi