Irene Cattaneo’s signature motif is a cloud. What does a cloud look like? Meteorologists have identified ten primary types–but these can be broken down into dozens of “species.” Cirrus clouds–thin, wispy, streaklike–are found above 5,000 meters. The Floccus Cirrus is a Cirrus with a ragged, frayed base. Not to be confused with a Castellanus Cirrus, which has a more castle-like formation. When it comes to clouds, even taxonomists get poetic. Most of us, looking skywards, describe clouds in terms of the non-cloudlike things they resemble–creating an abundance of material for Freu dian analysis (pipes, dragons, mountains...). Since any given cloud can evolve into any other, they exist in a flux of descending, distending, congea ling, reddening, darkening. While clouds appear to be gaseous, they are actually composed of condensation and ice crystals. Just think–above us in the sky–great floating herds of crystals.
