Agenda Venezia

Mitoraj

 

12 big bronze statues resembling some ancient works, representing gods, heroes and winged creatures, talk from 24 September to 18 December with the “campi”, the squares of Venice, along a route which goes from Campo Santo Stefano to Santa Maria del Giglio. Protagonist is Igor Mitoraj, born in 1944 in Germany from a French father and a Polish mother. After the war’s tragedy, Mitoraj studies in Poland before emigrating to Paris. In Paris begins his history of artist, until he becomes one of the most appreciated representatives of contemporary European sculpture. The exhibition begins in Ca’ Pesaro, where are exhibited the artist’s until now unpublished drawings; they are not comparable to sculptures as to quality, but they are a testimony of their inventive phase. In the same museum, both inside and outside, is also concentrated the most consistent group of sculptures (8), from the typical big ones like the “Sleeping head” of 1983, which faces the Grand Canal, up to the most recent ones, more little, very compact, inspired by the lagoon theme.

Mitoraj has a well recognizable style: his modern reinterpretation of ancient sculpture, Greek and Egyptian in particular, allows to insert his works without difficulties in an urban environment.

Mitoraj’s operation seems thus more solid than the one experimented two years ago, also promoted by the Contini gallery, with Botero. It is less intrusive than the previous one and, what is most important, it presents works of greater quality and charme.

Mitoraj deliberately leaves many of his bodies maimed, often even acephalous, as if they were archeological excavations, thus creating a certain distance of time. Also bronze, his favorite material, often split by express fractures, strenghtens this illusion. Furthermore, the cavity of his statues and the emptiness of eye sockets, when eyes aren’t covered with a bandage, suggest a metaphysical atmosphere which makes think of a comparison with Giorgio De Chirico, who was evenly attracted by ancient mythology.

Ca’ Pesaro, campi of Venice, Piazzale Candiani to Mestre, San Giuliano and airport. Until 18 December.

Lidia Panzeri