AN IRON LOVE
That's exactly what happened.
It was after a decade in the blacksmith's workshop that I noticed you,
that I wanted to be alone with you.
For us I carved out a space,
me, you, an anvil and a hammer.
For you I struggled, sweated and sometimes even cursed.
With you I spent the nights.
To you I confided my anxieties and my fears, my joys and my frailties.
You know my soul and I know yours.
You listen to me in silence, without judging.
You allow my emotions to flow freely until shaping you,
expression of the deepest part of me that only you know.
That's why, when I want an absolute intimacy,
in your eternal silence I seek refuge.
BIOGRAPHY
Andrea Borga (Trento, 1985) is an Italian sculptor whose artistic research takes shape in the Dolomites of northern Italy, the area where he lives and develops his creative work.
His artistic journey begins with direct contact with metal: at the age of seventeen, he becomes an apprentice in a blacksmith's workshop in his hometown, where he learns the fundamental techniques of metalworking through a craft tradition based on gesture and experience.
In the following years, he develops a personal language that progressively leads him toward sculpture. His early works are inspired by observations of nature, from which emerge animals and organic forms characterized by a balance between material strength and poetic sensitivity. Over time, his research expands to include the study of the human figure, approached with a sculptural language that combines plastic energy and formal elegance.
Borga’s sculptures are primarily made of iron, stainless steel, corten steel, brass, and copper, often paired with natural materials.
The surfaces are treated through physical and chemical processes that avoid the use of paints, allowing the authenticity and transformation of the material to emerge as an integral part of the creative process.
In recent years, his artistic journey has taken on an increasingly international dimension. His works have been presented in contemporary art contexts in the United States and Asia, participating in significant events such as Miami Art Week, where his work was exhibited in two consecutive editions (2024 and 2025), and at major international fairs like the Hamptons Art Fair in New York (2024) and the Clio Art Fair during New York Art Week for the consecutive years 2024 - 2025. His exhibition path has also taken him to the American West Coast with participation in the San Francisco Art Fair in 2025 and to the Asian context with a presence at the Affordable Art Fair in Singapore (2025).
In Italy, his work has been showcased in solo and group exhibitions, including the “Steel Life” exhibition in 2023 in Coredo (TN) and participation in the group show “Echoes - The Mountain Between Photography and Painting” hosted in the halls of Palazzo della Regione in Trento as part of the official program of the 2023 Trento Film Festival of the Mountain. In 2024, the Trentino-Alto Adige Region dedicated the solo exhibition “Materica” to him in the same institutional spaces. In 2025, he presented “Seduzioni, quando il metallo diventa desiderio” (Seductions, When Metal Becomes Desire) a solo exhibition held in the historic Coffee House of Palazzo Colonna in Rome, by direct invitation from Prince Don Prospero Colonna and Princess Donna Jeanne Pavoncelli.
Borga’s works have also been exhibited in contemporary art showcases in Italy, including Paratissima in Turin and BAF - Bergamo Arte Fiera. His sculptures are part of public and private collections both in Italy and abroad (California, Florida, Texas, New York, Mexico, Singapore, Germany, Monaco). Notable pieces include the sculpture “Royal Rooster,” the first and only contemporary artwork to enter the private collection of Palazzo Colonna in Rome, on permanent display in the Maioliche Room of the Pio Pavilion; and “Royal Rooster #2”, housed at the Museum of the Rooster in Linares, a cultural space in the state of Nuevo León (Mexico).
artist statement
Metalworking has accompanied man since the dawn of time. A tradition that was born and developed from ancestral knowledge that has been handed down, for centuries, from generation to generation. The craftsman is the one who creates by forging, shaping, and beating matter, a metal professional who puts his technical skill at the service of the community. The debate around the role of the "faber" and the artist within society has arisen cyclically over the centuries. A blurred boundary divides them, mainly due to intent: on one side is pure technique, on the other is the originality and creativity of the artist.
I like to define myself as the fusion of these two figures. A blacksmith by training, my passion for metal has led me to continue investigating this material. Despite having experienced and experimented with it in multiple ways over the years, it continues to amaze me.
This implies that when I approach metal I begin a real dialogue with it, in which the material itself is an active part and therefore responsible for the result. So the dialogue, the process of making the work, is as important to me as the final product. Because like any conversation, although we may have knowledge of the subject matter and the tools to be able to argue, there is always one part that remains out of our total control, which is the response of the other person. And it is precisely this response that can lead to rethinking, to changes of direction as the work progresses. My initial idea inevitably shapes itself to the test of the material.
The result will then be the responsibility of both parties, artist and material. This is what fascinates me: the realization that no matter how much I may know about a material, I never have full control over it. And no matter how much I try to impose a will of my own, the material has and continues to have its own life and autonomy, which can sometimes become resistance. Metal can be beaten, stretched, melted, broken, even eroded. And although I know the techniques, it is never possible for me to know a priori what the final result will be.
Although conveyed by a form, it is therefore the material that is the real protagonist and driving force behind my research. A living matter that creates and recreates my world, showing me in all its potentialities and, often, contradictions.