A 1x1x1m cube of Macchietta marble is engraved on its upper face with a 100x1x1cm groove, filled with the ash of cigars smoked by the artist. The work was born from the assonance and dissonance between the two materials that it is made with. It is a sculpture reflecting both on removal (the groove) and on addition (the ashes). The color of cigar ash is gray like the veins of marble, which are wavy, while the groove filled with ash is straight. The vein is irregular, like nature; the ash is in a straight line, which is unnatural.

The veins of the marble and the cigar ash have to do with time – the long time of stone and the short time of men: both are residuals, traces of a passage; the ash is the residue of a breath, a leftover, while the vein is the trace of a huge and constant force. The marble is heavy – over 2,700 kilos; the ash is light – less than 20 grams.

Marble is tough, ash is volatile but indestructible. Marble can become light dust like ash, ash can crush like stone.