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Salvatore Cuschera / Galleria Biffi Arte
From this Saturday, 11 December 2010 to 6 January 2011 Galeria Biffi Arte will present Salvatore Cuschera’s “Shaman Roosters” sculptures. The artist – starting from his idea of modern shamanism – has been modelling clay to create these colourful cocks, which embody the power of the shaman himself.
The zoomorphic figures are the result of the artist’s will to bring some changes to the traditional cucù made in Matera (Basilicata, in the south of Italy). In many cultures the cock is recognised as a sacred animal connected to the sun and characterised by a fighting spirit. It is also seen as a symbol of virility and often used to make offering to the gods.
The sculptures by Cuschera, through their fantastic shapes, reveal all the artist’s spirituality and cultural background – even if they are not explicitly religious and are made with a certain rationality; volumes, lines, colour and, sometimes real bird feathers are mixed together in a way that recall shaman masks. Creating a parallel between the roosters and the shamans, Cuschera’s wish is to express the charisma of these human beings that are recognised as guides and intermediaries without time.
The works by Salvatore Cuschera will be displayed with the Nativity scene by Enrico Pulsoni in the show called “Il sacro e il profano fianco a fianco per il Natale 2010” (The sacred and the profane side by side for Christmas 2010”), where the sacred and the profane are blended. The “profane” animals, through their rugged and colourful surface, reveal their spiritual nature, reflecting, at the same time, the need of contemporary artists to represent their own particular way to perceive spirituality.
Via Chiapponi 39, Piacenza.
Monica Lombardi, images from the bureau.
