EXPO | ANDREW IACOBUCCI: PETIT PANTHÉON

Whoever knows the secret name of a god, a city, a person, and can recite it, summons the corresponding spirit and almost masters it. Hence the need to keep the true name hidden so that men or evil spirits cannot take advantage of it; hence the necessity of a false name to serve as a common designation.

Dolores Prato, Roma, non altro, Quodlibet, 2022

Almost a year ago, during the Notte Bianca at Villa Medici, Andrew Iacobucci designed a workshop for children, starting from the observation of the large Statue of the Goddess Roma, located in the Villa's gardens and represented and photographed by residents since the early 19th century.
Beginning with a moment of reflection on the concept of copying and interpretation, the young participants used eco-friendly plasticine to model this figure and other deities, shapes and landscapes inspired by the context they were in, according to their own vision. As often happens, while modeling, people chat, tell stories, and dream a little: so the figures gradually transformed into something else as well — a winged being could turn from Nike into a robot, or a fairy, for instance.
Preserved by the artist as if they were a potential collection of signs, the sculptures were further reworked, isolating some details or recomposing them. Later, they were photographed against a neutral background and printed in large format. Petit Panthéonthe figure that lends its name to the exhibition, was instead modeled in clay and then cast in polished bronze. In these transitions of state, size, and medium, the initial object is lost and changes its meaning.
As is typical for Andrew Iacobucci, a found form — a child's drawing, a symbol, a road sign, a color code — becomes a sign and thus opens itself to a new interpretation. in progress It becomes part of an evolving archive of found, collected, and re-signified signs that the artist draws upon to create his works, and through successive transcriptions and transformations of state or medium, it becomes part of his language.

In this case, the process of transliteration operates from the plane of interpretation: the small sculptures are not only enlarged and photographed but also acquire a new name. Naming something means distinguishing and designating an object or a person. The first cognitive act, a way of understanding the world, and not by chance, in different religions, naming is the first action performed by humans — that which, in other words, defines their specificity and identity.
Thus, in this exhibition, Chimera, Bodhisattva, Olympus, Amon Ra, A sort of feminine counterpart to the Oedipus complex (we dare say: Electra?), Petit Panthéon and even the seagull from Things Stubbornly Remain in Their Ironic Identity find, in their title, the secret name that, once spoken, transfigures the small sculptures and turns them into idols. Magical and prophetic objects.

IUNO e Andrew Iacobucci ringraziano Valentino Danilo Matteis