A major three-person exhibition marks the reopening of the exhibition season at PUNTO SULL'ARTE. The OPENING RECEPTION of the exhibition VIVERE L’ESTINZIONE will take place on September 19 from 11 AM to 1 PM at the main gallery, located at Viale Sant’Antonio 59/61. PUNTO SULL'ARTE presents a captivating dialogue between the sculptures of Mario Branca, the renowned Milanese sculptor, and the paintings of French artists Eric Roux-Fontaine and Marika Vicari, a long-time artist of the gallery. The artists and the art curator Ivan Quaroni will be present at the opening, providing an opportunity for direct engagement with their work.
The title of the exhibition stems from a reflection by philosopher Timothy Morton on global warming and mass extinction—vast phenomena that unfold over time and space, eluding our immediate perception. These are what Morton calls Hyperobjects: real, concrete entities capable of altering our daily lives and the destiny of the planet, while remaining partially invisible to our sensory tools.
The exhibition brings together three artists who, through different languages, tackle the ecological crisis of the present from a decentered perspective that challenges human centrality. The works of Roux-Fontaine, Branca, and Vicari construct a system of references and correspondences where forests, trees, plant organisms, objects, traces, and artificial structures become images of a new planetary condition, rooted in the interdependence of all living forms.
In Eric Roux-Fontaine's paintings, lush tropical forests, impenetrable jungles, and visionary environments welcome minimal, almost negligible human presences. Works like “The Heart of the World” (2026), “Passenger” (2025), and “In the Shadow of the Stars” (2025) convey an image of precariousness, where humanity loses its centrality and confronts the vastness of the surrounding world. Artificial and incongruous elements, from the abandoned living room in “New Chapter” (2026) to the chandelier in “The Monarch’s Chamber” (2026), introduce a sense of estrangement that transforms the forest into an organism capable of absorbing architectures, objects, and cultural memories.
Mario Branca's sculptures, on the other hand, reveal a universe where vegetation and industrial artifacts coexist within hybrid and symbiotic structures. His copper trees, grafted onto reinforced concrete bases, seem to emerge from the anthropic landscape through slow processes of sedimentation, oxidation, and metamorphosis of matter. In the “Onirica” series, trees, chairs, nests, snails, and eggs compose a suspended narrative where domestic objects lose their original function and are assimilated by processes of vegetative growth.
Marika Vicari's research focuses on images of trees and woods reduced to their essence. Through thin, filamentous lines, the artist constructs suspended landscapes, milky surfaces, white forests, and silent scenarios that evoke both a mental and real nature. Works like “Fractures” (2026) and “Traces” (2026) reveal portions of a broader natural order, perceivable only through hints, absences, and traces. Her painting, dry and concise, indirectly highlights ecological themes, transforming the forest into a space of listening, memory, and vulnerability.
Vivere l’estinzione is an exhibition devoid of catastrophic or spectacular images of the end of the world, inviting us to recognize the fragility of the present and the forms of interdependence that bind every living being to the common fate of the Earth. Through painting and sculpture, Roux- Fontaine, Branca, and Vicari give visible form to a complex condition, where the ecological crisis also becomes an opportunity to rethink our way of inhabiting the world.
A CATALOG published by PUNTO SULL'ARTE, featuring reproductions of the works on display and critical text by Ivan Quaroni, will accompany the exhibition. The artists will be present in the gallery for the opening reception on Saturday, September 19, 2026. The exhibition will be on view until October 24, 2026.
MARIO BRANCA was born in Milan in 1977. He graduated in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in 2001. Always passionate about metalworking techniques, he creates his works by forging them directly. His production includes over 10 monumental sculptures designed for public spaces, as well as medium and small-scale works where the lightness of the lines and the colors of the pieces become the true protagonists. His research is rooted in the world of childhood, interpreted through the lens of writers such as Hemingway, Jules Verne, Eliot, Lewis Carroll, and other literary figures. Numerous reviews have been written about his work, particularly by Luisa Somaini, Maria Livia Brunelli, Emanuele Beluffi, Chiara Canali, Vladek Cwalinski, and Alessandra Redaelli. Since 2010, he has been a sculpture instructor at the Felice Gazzola Institute Foundation in Piacenza. From 2017 to 2019, he taught at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna in the Industrial Design course. He is currently teaching foundry techniques and design methodology at the Santa Giulia Academy in Brescia. He has received numerous awards and mentions, including the Zurich Club Top 30 competition, a special mention for sculpture at the latest edition of the Wannabee Prize 2011, and a commission for a monumental sculpture for the façade of the Teatro di Pinzolo in Madonna di Campiglio (TN). He has a multi-year commission for 35 works for Zurich Assicurazioni, Milan division. He lives and works between Piacenza and Milan (IT).
ERIC ROUX-FONTAINE, through his brushes, transcends the limits of reality to take us into a world where emotions are embodied in pigments and textures. His paintings reveal a profound reality, that of our existence and our relationship with the nature that surrounds us. His art appears as an open window to the wonder of what envelops us, and it is up to the viewer to capture the shining beauty of what is revealed to us. Eric Roux-Fontaine was born in France in 1966. After his academic studies, he decided to embark on a journey of discovery around the world, visiting remote places and engaging with Romani cultures worldwide. In a sort of contemporary Grand Tour, Roux-Fontaine had the opportunity to test his painting against the rest of the world. His works, rich in vibrant colors and surreal atmospheres, have been exhibited globally, from Paris to New York, and he has participated in the most important art fairs. He lives and works near Versailles (FR).
MARIKA VICARI was born in Vicenza (Italy) in 1979. After graduating in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice in 2003, she then graduated in 2005 in Design and Production of Visual Arts at the Faculty of Design and Arts at the Venice University of Architecture. She has studied and worked on site-specific projects with international artists, curators and photographers including: Hans Ulrich Obrist, Lewis Baltz, Mona Hatoum, Antoni Muntadas, Antonio Arevalo, Armin Linke, Cesare Pietroiusti and Angela Vettese. Since 2000 she has exhibited in various solo and group shows in Europe, United States, Mexico, Brazil, Canada and China. Her works are permanently exhibited in public and private collections in Europe, Canada, USA and United Arab Emirates. For years her works have been presented at Art Fairs in Europe and Canada. She paints and draws small and big artworks made of graphite on paper or board. The subjects of her works are filiform trees suspended in indefinite and dreamy mountain landscapes. Her technique, which is constantly evolving, has involved the production of works on poplar boards while, starting from 2019, she began experimenting on cotton paper with an increasing watercolour presence. This new medium adds grace to the forests she portrays by feeding the metaphor with the human being and its fragility, transience. Since 2005 she is independent curator and Creative Director of ART STAYS, the International Festival of Contemporary art held in Ptuj (SI). She lives and works in Creazzo (IT).