2022

Oracular Skullptures #2

Second series of beautifully macabre and deliciously grotesque (black) lacquered animal skulls.

Oracular Skullpures #2 series (2022), processing in studio.

Oracular Skullpures #2 series (2022), processing in studio.

This is the 2nd series of seven “oracular skulls” tied with ”shibari” fluo ropes created in collaboration with the Roman based “Rigger” Verususropes. The skulls are suspended and compose an inverted triangle looking at the abyss. Ideally the ropes are the conduit to otherworldly realms, they vibrate and resonate as if they were strings of an imaginary and arcane instrument.

Shibari #縛 or kinbaku #緊縛 is a Japanese discipline that consists in binding a person in an erotic context. It evolved from the techniques of #hojojutsu a martial art created to immobilise prisoners of war. The “technology” of the knot it is such that the more the prisoner moves, the more the knot tightens. Having become an art (not just erotic), between performance and living sculpture, it has obviously assumed many other meanings and developed its own codes.

From what I’ve read, in traditional Japanese religious ceremonies ropes and bondages often symbolize the connection between the human and the divine. This is why I wanted to apply them to these skulls resurrected to a new life post mortem, as if they were otherworldly beings whose distorted sounds are reminiscences of their previous lives making the cords vibrate.

Poised between art and design, this series series composed by seven animal skulls lacquered in glossy black paint: cattle, horse, babirusa, roe deer, ram, and two wild boars. Some skulls were found in open space, some others come from bone collectors and taxidermists (the babirusa).

Somehow my “skullptures” imply a reuse/recycle of skulls normally displayed as hunting trophy, hence holding different meanings. The animal skull may recall the traumatic experience we inflict upon nature in order to dominate, survive, and prosper. In this sense, the “skullptures” can be interpreted as guardians of the terrestrial order, as warnings both for the individual and for humanity as a whole.

Firstly show during Sublimine exhibition.
See Oracular Skullptures #1 series.