“God is in the details” is a phrase commonly used to signal the importance of the particular. The saying has been attributed to various sources including: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Aby Warbug, Gustave Flaubert and Wolfgang van Goethe. Over time, several variations of the saying have emerged: God is in the detail; The devil is in the detail; Le bon Dieu est dans le détail; Governing is in the details and The truth, if it exists, is in the details.
These phrases were inscribed in the five roof tiles, thus recuperating an old tradition that I discovered during my visits to Montereale. Factory workers in this region of Italy were accustomed to writing and drawing into some of the pieces during the time the tiles dried. The inscriptions normally consisted in insults directed toward their bosses, poems or erotic phrases that over time became the signature phrases of the household.
5 fired clay roof tiles
43 x 15 cm aprox.
Produced by Fundación Botín.
XIX Visual Arts grant.
Made by Camilo Barreto. With the advice and collaboration of Davide Zanutta and Aldo Colonnello.