> Obsession
Residency at Atelier #01
MACRO Rome, Italy
Catalogue text (in Italian):
“Obsession” is what I called my studio: obsession with being human, with peaks and abysses, obsession with modeling faces, bodies, attitudes, expressions, gestures, moods; obsession with clay that shapes human bodies almost on its own, obsession with giving body to the intangible, obsession with art.
I had G. Jung's Psychology and Alchemy in my pocket; I wanted to focus my state of mind, try to feel that of the audience and transform it into figurines about thirty centimeters tall, without thinking too much. I wanted to give life to the collective unconscious, so to speak...
At the beginning, to introduce myself, I made a drawing with the words “agile fragile”.... Then, thanks to a pun by a French friend, it became “aRgile fragile,” fragile clay. Quite a program.
The days at MACRO Asilo passed quickly. As usual, I worked until I was exhausted (because I like to use all my physical strength and then collapse), talking to the audience, feeling their gaze on me, sometimes pleasant enough to give me goose bumps, sometimes irritating. On the last day, at the fateful moment (which always comes) when what has been created wants to be destroyed, a disruptive lady came along and made me nervous, and the heads of two already slightly dried-out figurines broke; damn it! I was pissed off! ... then calm and reflection.
I could have worked with this evil energy to create something different, but there was no time. So I glued the heads together, arranged the sculptures to form a theatrical scene, which reminds me of a defendant defending himself in court (a surprising outcome even for me), and left everything available to the public.
During the week, I also tried to use the video camera to visualize the phenomenon of encounter: the fact that when we look at others, whatever they may be, we always look at ourselves too, and some interesting footage came out of it.
But I think they are the outline of a different work, to be developed elsewhere.
Sculptures:
7 figures, ca. 30 cm, clay, 2019
Photo credits: Monkeys Video Lab
Catalogue text (in Italian):
“Obsession” is what I called my studio: obsession with being human, with peaks and abysses, obsession with modeling faces, bodies, attitudes, expressions, gestures, moods; obsession with clay that shapes human bodies almost on its own, obsession with giving body to the intangible, obsession with art.
I had G. Jung's Psychology and Alchemy in my pocket; I wanted to focus my state of mind, try to feel that of the audience and transform it into figurines about thirty centimeters tall, without thinking too much. I wanted to give life to the collective unconscious, so to speak...
At the beginning, to introduce myself, I made a drawing with the words “agile fragile”.... Then, thanks to a pun by a French friend, it became “aRgile fragile,” fragile clay. Quite a program.
The days at MACRO Asilo passed quickly. As usual, I worked until I was exhausted (because I like to use all my physical strength and then collapse), talking to the audience, feeling their gaze on me, sometimes pleasant enough to give me goose bumps, sometimes irritating. On the last day, at the fateful moment (which always comes) when what has been created wants to be destroyed, a disruptive lady came along and made me nervous, and the heads of two already slightly dried-out figurines broke; damn it! I was pissed off! ... then calm and reflection.
I could have worked with this evil energy to create something different, but there was no time. So I glued the heads together, arranged the sculptures to form a theatrical scene, which reminds me of a defendant defending himself in court (a surprising outcome even for me), and left everything available to the public.
During the week, I also tried to use the video camera to visualize the phenomenon of encounter: the fact that when we look at others, whatever they may be, we always look at ourselves too, and some interesting footage came out of it.
But I think they are the outline of a different work, to be developed elsewhere.
Sculptures:
7 figures, ca. 30 cm, clay, 2019
Photo credits: Monkeys Video Lab
