Ode to my family
ODE TO MY FAMILY
99, Carton, Cornet, Oyster Delight
Oil on linen, 60 × 85 cm
2021
Alessandra Sormani in collaboration with Adriana Sormani (Yana)
Produced for the opening of SORELLA Ice Cream Kiosk, Ode to My Family comprises a series of four oil paintings developed in collaboration with the artist’s mother, Adriana Sormani (Yana). The works reference four ice-cream products — 99, Carton, Cornet and Oyster Delight — historically sold by the artist’s uncle, Aldo Vella, situating the project within a framework of familial labour, memory and intergenerational exchange
The paintings are based on photographic documentation and transferred onto raw linen. The canvases were selectively primed, deliberately masking the edible portions of the products. This strategy foregrounds absence and deferral, positioning material degradation as an active component of the work.
Through the interaction of titanium white oil paint and linseed oil, the surface will gradually develop a yellowed tonality, visually analogous to the creamy hues of vanilla ice cream. Over time, the linseed oil’s direct contact with the unprimed linen will cause the canvas to deteriorate, forming cavities that slowly erode the image until the product disappears entirely.
Each work was made for the artist’s siblings — Angela, Stefania and Renato — all of whom worked at Fortes Ice Cream Parlour during the 1990s. The series operates as both a material record and a temporal gesture, linking processes of decay to family history, labour and the erosion of memory.