ROSSS and the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence

Celebrating the artistic aspects of labour and paying homage to the laborious aspects of art. Demonstrating that labour is art and that art is labour.

Capturing the spirit of the fabrica opus facere and expressing it through pictures. These are the goals and the effects of the exemplary initiative sponsored by the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence and promoted by the “Rosss” company based in Scarperia e San Piero.

A project which brought together and stirred up interest of a group of young students called upon to learn about, interpret and translate into images, the places and daily operations of a leading company in the design and manufacture of metal shelving.

When art focuses on labour, it makes it sublime, freeing it from its merely instrumental function. When labour becomes the focus of art, it disciplines art, makes it more ethical and releases it from the temptation of aestheticism.

By taking inspiration from work, art reveals and understands itself in a more authentic and realistic dimension; one that is more contained and committed. When represented by art, work reveals and understands itself in a more dignified and noble perspective, one that is more serious and virtuous.

The way each of them forms, produces and creates is intermingled, continued and complements each other. Art flows into work and work flows back into art. And both converge in the life of man.

The tools of painting are pigments and brushes. Those of “Rosss” are presses and profiling machines, forming rollers and welders, lasers and automated islands.

Each artist has his own poetic technique, a mental plan which he follows and which reflects his inner reality and sensitivity.

The poetic technique of “Rosss” is expressed in its corporate vision, coined by its founder, Rossano Bettini, in the 1990s: “I always want to be safe and surrounded by beauty”. The style of “Rosss” is individual, yet collective.

It is a style that belongs to more than one person, beginning with Rossano and continuing with his heirs Stefano, Silvano, Simone and Sandro.

From 1981 until now, it is the culmination and reflection of the dedication and talent of the workforce that has contributed and continues to contribute to making the company one of the leading industrial firms in Italy.

The artist’s style manifests the intellectual and moral bases of his personality and spirituality. The values that “Rosss” pursues and conveys in its work are passion and discipline, creativity and substance.

The steadfast desire to unite the power of results with the courage to dream.

There is no such thing as art without commitment and hard work. And no work exists that can achieve its objective if not through artistic means.

Photos and texts taken from the book: “ROSSS OPERA: Anima attività e ambienti di Rosss nelle opere dell’Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze”, Edizioni Firenze, 2017.