Marco Ercoli - Anatomia del passo

Title: Anatomy of the Step
Artist: Marco Ercoli
Year: 2018
Technique: Sculptures in cut and glued shaped paper
Materials: Hundreds of sheets of paper cut, layered, and manually glued
Support/Base: Marble base
Sculpture dimensions: scale 1:1, indicative dimensions of a real sneaker
Indicative dimensions: Each sculpture has a size of about 29 × 11 × 30 cm
Edition: Unique work
Signature: Signed by the artist
Conditions: Excellent condition
Certificate of authenticity: Not included / included, if you want to include it
Provenance: Directly from the artist
Packaging: Professional and careful packaging
Shipping: Tracked shipment

Anatomy of the Step presents itself as a sculptural triptych dedicated to the shape of the sneaker, reinterpreted not as a simple object of use, but as a contemporary relic, a memory of the body and movement.

The three sculptures, made to 1:1 scale, are built through a slow, manual process: hundreds of sheets of paper are shaped, overlapped, and glued until a compact three-dimensional form is generated, organic in feel, recreating an effect similar to ceramic. Paper, a daily and lightweight material, is transformed into an organic mass, almost fossil-like, where each layer preserves the trace of gesture and time.

The triptych develops three variations on the theme of the step: the shoe appears as skin, shell, anatomy, worn fragment, or archaeological residue of the present. The perforated surfaces, openings, twists, and deformations transform the sneaker into a living structure, suspended between design, body, and ruin. The object loses its practical function and becomes a symbol of crossing, effort, identity, and the memory left by walking.

The arrangement of the three works creates an internal dialogue: each sculpture seems to represent a different condition of the same form, as if the shoe were observed in three successive states — birth, transformation, and dissolution. The marble bases emphasize the character of a contemporary relic, lending stability and solemnity to a fragile material like paper.

In this work, Marco Ercoli brings an everyday object into an almost ritual dimension. The sneaker, an icon of urban everyday life, is lifted from consumption and transformed into a stratified sculptural presence, where the step becomes memory, matter, and the anatomy of time.