The realm of creativity is the realm of all things – all things, that is, regarded in ways they have not been thought of before. If artists cannot transform the object or the world in one way, they will transform it in another. Optimally, they will find several ways to make that transformation – transforming not just the universe before us, but our whole concept of “transformation.”

Emilio Cavallini is one of those artists who has transformed the very concept of transformation. He has broken down boundaries between entirely distinct modes of creative impulse by working with a single material but making with it several disparate kinds of new things (and the new thoughts that go along with them). In the process, Cavallini has reshaped how we think about art: he has turned the human body into a support for visual structure (a support rewarded by the flattery paid it by that structure) and has, in turn, turned unlikely substances into artistic material.