Staura is a black and white marble sculpture by Fausto Ferrara, realized in 2025, in which vertical form is released from function to become a measure of space.

The Work takes the archetype of the column and removes its supporting function. Matter bends gradually, transforming verticality from structural support into a tension between gravity, balance and restrained movement.

The marble is carved and polished until its surface becomes sensitive to variations of light. Mass retains its physical consistency, while the perception of weight continually changes: curve, shadow and reflection transform the Work according to the observer’s distance and position.

Staura does not simply occupy space: it measures it. It has no privileged viewpoint and requires the body to move around it. Form is therefore recognized through the duration of observation, in a sequence of profiles that never fully coincide.

There is no added representation or symbolism. The Work concentrates some of the central questions in Ferrara’s research — matter, boundary, verticality, light and measure — within the essential scale of sculpture.

Staura thus belongs to Ferrara’s research into Necessary Form: a form that does not arise from arbitrary expressive gesture, but from the precise relationship between matter, void, light and body.