Tiles made from used bicycle tires on a wooden panel. Dimensions: 185 x 126 cm. Work created by the artist for the arrival of the 2013 Giro d'Italia in Brescia and exhibited, during the gala dinner and award ceremony, in the Vanvitelliano Hall of Palazzo Loggia (photo 10). The artist created the work by fixing the tiles, cut from strictly used, old and worn bicycle tires, to a wooden board using special adhesives and small screws. The tires, chosen for their worn exterior appearance and colors, are assembled in a particular "order" decided by the artist, resulting in a particularly homogeneous and pleasant composition. In this case, Luigi Milani created a pink rectangle in the central part of the work, a clear reference to the color of the jersey that distinguishes the leader and therefore the winner of the important cycling race. Analyzing the work in particular, we can point out two further important characteristics: the first is that the different positioning of the tiles optically divides the work into two halves vertically which, depending on the angle from which it is viewed, create an opposite chiaroscuro impression. The second (which does not stand out in natural light) is created by the insertion of sections of tires with small reflectors into the composition, which "light up" when illuminated with artificial light. An example can be seen in published photograph number 8, taken with a flash.     Luigi Milani was born in 1957 in Frassinelle Polesine (Rovigo). He has always been drawn to painting as a creative necessity. Initially, he painted female portraits with pop and metropolitan inspiration, achieving considerable success. Since 2008, he has focused on Informal art, using parts of bicycle tires to embellish and transform a simple material into a lace that resembles a Persian carpet, where harmony, balance, and a sense of color enchant. Since then, the style of Luigi Milani's works has changed. With a nod to the avant-garde movements of the 20th century and drawing from conceptual art, he focuses his attention on Arte Povera, which is distinguished by the rejection of traditional means of expression in favor of "non-artistic" materials, both natural and industrial, assuming their primary expressiveness and sensory immediacy. The evolution in Milani's work, as with most valuable artists, soon followed. For Milani, the use of bicycle tires is rooted in the memory of a distant childhood. It also represents the symbol of carefreeness and freedom, which, for those with artistic talent, must be a daily bread, an imperative to give shape to their creativity. This material, which now composes like a mosaic, therefore has an evocative value of the carefree part of life, when, for fun with the bicycle, one could even reach the end of the world. It is the moment in which the foundations of a personality are laid, those stimuli are created that are then destined to become an artistic goad. Perhaps this is precisely why Milani, in fixing his childhood memories in the form of bicycle tires, consecrates them forever. Luigi Milani's works are present in numerous private collections in Italy and abroad. Matteo Pacini From Luigi Milani ...It is a strange and pleasant sensation that one feels when, suddenly, one finds what one has been looking for for a long time. That's what happened to me with the "Bicycle Thieves". I think it's true what the Indian saying says: "ideas are in the air, ready to be grasped". For about twenty years I have been thinking about how to express myself in art with something original, that would make me feel emotions, and that maybe would also have to do, in some way, with a story, or would have a story. I have always worked in the field of figurative art, doing portraits, and in the meantime, I always had this "fixed idea", this "thorn" of originality that excites me. I have experimented with many things, various strands of art. I have done original things but they did not give me the emotion I was looking for. Other things that could create some emotion, but seemed like copies of other artists: roads traveled by others. Think and rethink, nothing to do, I could not figure it out, until, one beautiful day, I took my wife's bicycle to repair. While I chat with the mechanic, I see that he replaces an old and very worn tire with a new one. I pick up this old tire and feel something strange: my mind lights up and my brain starts working fervently, as if it were thirsty and sees an oasis in the distance. The mechanic talks to me but my mind is in another place, another dimension. At that moment I am thinking about who that tire belonged to, what use whoever used it made of it. Was it perhaps a person who used it to go to work? Or perhaps a mother who accompanied her child to school? Or who used the bicycle to go shopping? And then, and then the most beautiful thing: I remembered being a romantic, and so I thought it could have belonged to a lover who used the bicycle to take beautiful trips with his beloved. At this point I must take home some of this scrap material, which must be thrown away. I ask the mechanic if he can give me some old tires and he tells me to make myself comfortable in the back of the shop, where he has the scrap deposit, and he tells me that if I take them away he is doing me a favor. Well, telling what was in that "mountain" of tires is not simple. What seemed like garbage to everyone was a factory of emotions for me, it was a wonderful thing to think about how many stories were there, in that mountain of rubber. And I won't tell you when a small diameter tire, from a children's bicycle, came to me. It was the most emotional moment because I imagined the jumps of joy, of happiness, and how many kisses he will have given to his parents who gave him his first bicycle, undoubtedly desired for I don't know how long. And then I smiled, to myself, thinking also about the tears that that child will have shed, with the first falls. In conclusion, I had finally found what I had been looking for for a long time. A simple and banal worn tire is full of history and emotions. Just touch it to understand. And you can also understand the joy of living that a healthy bike ride can give. Since I have been working with the "Bicycle Thieves" I have not aged anymore. Oh yes, since then in my calendar I have every day with a green sign. The green sign is a simple thing to do: mark in green all the days in which you have done at least one pleasant thing. Well, in those days you will not have aged, the more green days you have and the less you will age. Luigi Milani The work, like all of our objects, will be sold with certificates of authenticity and lawful origin. We personally take care of and organize the packaging and shipping of works of art with insurance all over the world