the ONE guitar by Adriano Sergio / the one guitars collection part 1
Adriano’s ONE guitar is a stunning piece of extraordinary craftsmanship. We witness how his technique has changed and developed over the years. The loving care and attention he dedicates to his carving is apparent in all the fine details. Smooth surfaces interlace with cruder corners, choppy edges, which then are soothed into grooves and softly layered folds. His work has developed from an early, very organic shaping to now using a very complex form language.
Though perhaps not blatantly visible Adriano’s guitar is a manifestation of his connection to nature, the emotions evoked by the upheaval his life went through during the pandemic and the strong
friendships he has within the group.
Adriano’s ONE guitar exudes calm. Knowing Adriano’s capacity for great passion and exuberance it is almost surprising to see it harnessed and channeled into an almost regal stillness.
On closer look deep set pattern emerge in the color, which change depending on the light. Unusual for his work is that he embedded wood pieces into the guitar body. This has been inspired by the works of artist Gustav Klimt and
Michael’s habit of integrating wood leftovers -- a pattern becomes visible on closer look.
Adriano describes his experience of being part of Po3 as something that grounded him in this very difficult past year, that allowed him to push thinking aside in favor of just doing. He told us
that he is taking more and more time for his carvings, to allow things to grow and develop harmoniously and authentically. That is also very visible in his work, one can almost feel the patience
and focus when looking at his ONE guitar.
Adriano, why only one guitar?
It makes a lot of sense as continuation from 2020— each of us contributed a number of guitars to form ‘The Red Collection’. Now I sculpt thinking about the others, which gives me more focus and
it is special because of that. I like this direction — it let me do what I needed doing and suddenly IT was there!
My One Guitars incorporates a lot of Michael’s influence but also aspects of Uli’s. We had planned on showcasing the collection in Vienna, but COVID has made that impossible. Still, the
inspiration was there. Michael mentioned the Wotruba Church as something he sees relating to my style, which influenced my sculpting. And once the guitar was done I realized how much of Gustav
Klimt’s style inspired me as well.
My carving always also expresses my relationship to nature. ’One’ brought it all to a point, to create something special and really unique using my style. It has almost been like a step in a
developing process from 2020. The idea for the outline of this guitar was effortlessly born at NAMM 2020. Earlier this year I built a guitar thinking it might be the one for the collection, but
it turned out that the one I built later after many Zoom conversations and phone calls incorporated so much more of these aspects that it was clearly the ‘ONE’…
The One Guitars Collection will open new spaces for each of us in our own development — Uli is stepping out of his comfort zone of his well-known models and we witness how Michael is believing
stronger in his own path.
