The smiling Bacchus

The entire design and construction of the work was carried out in close collaboration with Luciano Preti, Professor of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. The two tons statuary marble block of exceptional purity comes from the quarries Michelangelo and it was sold to me on Prof. Preti's  intervention. 

Bacchus was thought of as kind brevilineo a bit stocky and fat, but at the same time preserving the elegance of figurative and decorations. Refering to the fifth sketch (there are five all together),the extremities: hands, feet and head, are slightly larger than necessary with respect to the actual figure. These differences lead the observer to focus attention on the parts. Moreover, to give particular significance to some components of the sculpture. Surpassing the figurative and the proportions in the strict sense, was a process already well underway in Classical Greek-Roman. The statue does not represent a regressive turn towards an expressionless neoclassicism. On the contrary, it will also be the thousandth variation on the same theme, however, the smile is an element of complete originality. Also, searching throughout classicism, there aren't any smiling statues. To sculpture a marble statue smiling, is something not easy. The statue represents the pagan happiness looking at the light and joyful world.

This version of Bacchus certainly fits in the figurative tradition because it does not intend to contribute to the destruction of language transmission of artistic inspirations; destruction common to many works of a certain art, often made without any technical competence. Even by appealing to the largest of the sensitivity and of the mental openings, no emotional note resounds in the soul of the observer. No will to reject the various multiform concepts of modern art, as well, some limit must be put to the plethora of would-be artists, pompous of their market success, come to boast even of one's own ignorance: "I cannot hold a brush in my hand" !  (Maurizio Cattelan, interview to the press in Turin, Italy, on the occasion of  "Artissima"  (sic !),  June, 2014).

The statue of the god and the perimeter of the temple delimit the sacred dimension. The invitation to the mortal to enter this area is in the message next to the statue ..............

Come in.............Let's visit the Temple.