Stefano L’Altrella

Time leaves its mark on objects, much like nature shapes, alters and, sometimes, erases the elements around us. Stefano L’Altrella, a visionary artist born in Sesto San Giovanni (MI) and grew up in Stresa on Lake Maggiore, hugs the scars of a damage or that which was considered a not indispensable object, gives them a new life by assigning them a meaning of rebirth and healing and identifying new shapes to bring out in unique artworks. Then he makes a discreet symbolic lesson out of it: he doesn’t erase the suffering but he takes care of it, he enhances it and he makes it a value added. The wounds of time become a source of beauty, brought to life in unique, one-of-a-kind creations—each with its own story to tell, leaving different traces and emotions in each observer. The object, unique in and of itself, gets an even more personal importance for the person who looks at it. 

Today his ideas take shape on the hills overlooking Lake Maggiore, just five minutes from Verbania and an hour from Milan. The village of Vignone is where Stefano L’Altrella lives. Is here, inside an old recovered and renovated cabin, that his workshop was born, the place where he takes refuge and where he keeps his work tools and the materials to which he gives new life. 

Next to his workshop, his gallery welcomes visitors and art enthusiasts eager to explore his world of transformation and renewal. Here, all his creativity finds space in the visual works that hold suggestive textures, in the tactile ones that give particular sensations if touched with the hands and in those that, in addition to the profound meaning, are also furnishing elements, lamps or support surfaces. Each with a story to tell, each with its practicality.