Black Shell – wood

 

                                                                             

 

 

 

 

tapestry weaving by vertical loom, hand-carved lime wood, from 2001 to 2015

” …sculture appartenenti al ciclo Black Shell, avviato nel 2001. Il ricorso al termine inglese non è dovuto a banale esotismo. L’equivalente inglese dell’italiano conchiglia possiede infatti un vastissimo ventaglio di significati, incentrati sulla valenza linguistica del guscio, dell’involucro (1); una polisemia (con relativa ambivalenza del simbolo: citando Warburg, Luzzi evoca il concetto mitico di “Giano bifronte”) che insiste giustamente a non smarrire”. Carlo Fabrizio Carli, Black Shell, catalogo della mostra, Galleria Arte e Pensieri, Roma, marzo 2012

1) Da dizionario di lingua inglese: “Conchiglia, guscio, involucro, baccello, corazza, squama, scaglia, leggero battello, schema, schizzo di progetto, cassa interna di un feretro, scorza, carcassa, ossatura, apparenza, parvenza, proiettile, granata, cartuccia, bossolo, guardamano, strato elettronico”.

“…sculptures from the cycle Black Shell, initiated in 2001. As an Italian artist, the adoption of the English term “shell” was a deliberate choice for Luzzi. The Italian “conchiglia” refers almost exclusively to the familiar home of the mollusc, while the equivalent English term assumes a vast range of meanings, centred on the concept of the shell as covering (1). “Shell” is a polyseme, a semantic field in itself, so broad and insistent as to create a sense of symbolic ambivalence, with this situation in turn suggesting a reference to the “bi-faced” Janus (for which Luzzi cites Aby Warburg)”. Carlo Fabrizio Carli, Black Shell, catalog of the exhibition, Arte e Pensieri Gallery, Rome, march 2012

1) Oxford Dictionaries: hard outer covering, case, casing, container, outer part, protective outer layer, pod, husk, outer surface of kernel or seed, carapace, integument of chrysalis, cocoon, wing case, external ear, shyness, impersonal attitude, outer character without substance, armour, bomb, artillery projectile, firework or explosive casing, rifle cartridge, sleeveless knit garment, jacket, outer garment, form of pasta, edible crust, basic structure of a building, outer remains of a building, light racing boat, ship hull, inner coffin, hand-guard, sphere of atomic energy, computing programme, company housing another company.