Namsal Siedlecki – ARTIST TALK
Introduction by:
Cecilia Casorati
Director Prof. Academy of Fine Arts in Rome
Moderator:
Marta Silvi
Lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and independent curator
Coordinated by:
Nicoletta Agostini
Lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome
To participate: link
PRESS RELEASE
On Friday 4 December 2020 at 5:00 pm, the artist Namsal Siedlecki will hold an online artist talk on the Zoom platform in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.
The conversation, introduced by Cecilia Casorati, Director Professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, will be moderated by Marta Silvi, lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and independent curator, with the coordination of Nicoletta Agostini, lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.
The meeting will present the results of the Crisalidi project, carried out thanks to the support of the Italian Council (6th Edition, 2019), the programme for the promotion of Italian contemporary art in the world of the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism. The Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Art in Prato will be the final recipient of the works created.
Five large bronze sculptures, entitled Mvaḥ Chā (Chrysalides), were created by Siedlecki in 2019 during several periods of residence in Kathmandu, where he had the opportunity to experiment with and explore the Nepalese lost-wax casting technique in some of the most important local foundries, dedicated to the production of sacred sculptures. In particular, the artist was fascinated by the steps that precede the casting: while in the West the wax model is covered with crushed brick and plaster, in Nepal a compound called “Mvaḥ Chā” is used, a mortar obtained by mixing clay, cow dung and chaff, i.e. the husk of rice grains.
The title of the sculptures therefore derives from the daily practice of the workshops, from that moment when the wax model is covered with layers of “Mvaḥ Chā”, forming an envelope so thick that it hides the original shape. By choosing these forms, Siedlecki has selected as works these intermediate artefacts which, although necessary for the creation of the sculptures, would never have become works as they are usually destroyed to complete the casting process.
The result of this unusual process is a set of sculptures with indeterminate masses, unfinished forms with a strong and primitive expressiveness, free from proportional canons and precise anatomical references, which nevertheless retain a subtle relationship with Hindu and Buddhist religious iconography, while at the same time recalling the archaic aesthetic of early 20th-century sculpture.
Biography of Namsal Siedlecki
Namsal Siedlecki was born in Greenfield (USA) in 1986. He lives and works in Seggiano (GR). In 2015, he won the fourth edition of the Premio Moroso and the Cy Twombly Italian Affiliated Fellow in Visual Arts at the American Academy in Rome; in 2019, he won the Club Gamec Prize and the Cairo Prize. In recent years, he has exhibited his work at numerous national and international institutions including: In extenso, Clermont-Ferrand; MAXXI, Rome; Villa Medici, Rome; Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato; Galeria Boavista, Lisbon; Villa Romana, Florence; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; 6 Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow; Chertludde, Berlin; Magazzino, Rome; American Academy in Rome; Museo
Apparente, Naples; Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Rome; Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice; Antinori Art Project, Bargino; Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon; Frankfurt am Main, Berlin; Cripta747, Turin. From 2008 to 2013, he managed the independent space GUM studio, first in Carrara and then in Turin.
www.namsalsiedlecki.com
PROJECT PRESS OFFICE
Maria Bonmassar
Tel +39 06.48.25.370 | Mobile +39 335.490.311 | ufficiostampa@mariabonmassar.com
PRESS MATERIAL AND PHOTOS AT THE LINK:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jfu9jx5em2wrxll/AADMsMsxHz6M43ezS7IaPTbVa?dl=0
FONDAZIONE PASTIFICIO CERERE
Coordination of exhibitions and projects: Claudia Cavalieri, Emanuela Pigliacelli
info@pastificiocerere.it | www.pastificiocerere.it | Tel. +39 06 45422960