2019
Where is my sacred?
An artistic itinerary addressing the sacred via faith, invocation and beauty.
5th december 2018 – 14th january 2019 @ Fondazione Cerere, Rome. Interview with Art Tribune (in Italian). Also a review apperead on Rivista Segno N° 217.
“Where is my sacred?” is an itinerary through a set of three projects I ironically define “pop-hierophanies”, which address three traditional aspects of the sacred: faith, invocation, beauty.
“IS THERE CHOCOLATE INSIDE?” – [FAITH]
(Included in Sacred Shrines)
At the beginning of the itinerary, welcoming the visitor, stands a chromed case with a Plexiglas screen, containing a series of 18 Ritter Sport Minimeter tube-packs in the center of which is placed a Russian icon depicting the Christ Pantocrator, multicolored LED lights illuminate the inside, giving the work a supernatural aura. It is a reinterpretation of the “Edicola Sacra” or “Aedicula” (little shrine), whose internal elements symbolize the union of the incarnated Logos of the Cosmos (Christ Pantocrator) with human desire (chocolate). The artist thus addresses the concept of faith by asking the spectator the provocative question
ORACULAR SKULLPTURES – [INVOCATION]
The main core of the exhibition is the Oracular Skullptures series, 10 animal skulls lacquered in pastel colors with golden details, between the sacred and the profane: the glossy surface recalls the spray painting of cars, giving the skulls a “toyish-look”; at the same time, the skulls look like magical creatures, astral beings from outer space or other worlds. These objects evoke the power and spirit of the animal reconnecting mankind with the natural world – instinctive, unconscious – and the transcendent.
“BEAUTY WILL SAVE THE WORLD” – [BEAUTY]
At the end of the “hieratic path”, a 3D cardboard print of the Venus e Milo (created by NextMaterials LTD from Milan) stands as a totem awaiting for the visitor. The statue is covered with medical bands like it was wounded, except of the head, the heart and the venter, illuminated by LEDs. The intent is to show the idea behind the famous statement by Prince Myskin in Dostoevsky’s The idiot: « Beauty will save the world ». On the body of the goddess, and on the back wall, a video montage will show the good and evil of the world – redeemed by the silent epiphany.
The intent is to recall the tremendum, the maiestas, the mysterium fascinans of this terrifying and irrational experience, but also all-encompassing and full of wonder: the sacred. Hence the title of the exhibition:
“Where is my sacred?”
And so – dear visitor – where is yours?
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