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His repertoire is as changeable as his thinking. Diego Cibelli eagerly absorbs everything he sees, from everyday objects to Renaissance and Neoclassical engravings, Darwinian drawings depicting aquatic microorganisms, plant and animal life, Greek and Etruscan art, fairy tales, comedy and mythological bestiaries. For him, creation is rêverie in action: a tool for direct knowledge of the world, an essential component of reason.
A native of Naples, after studying in Campania and Berlin, he set up his studio in Scampia: in the heart of a neighbourhood marked by unfulfilled utopias and the failure of rational urban planning, the idea of beauty as an act of resistance, a breath of fresh air amid the chaos, was born. This is why his art is a guerrilla conducted according to his own rules, which can be understood by looking at the recent and more ancient history of porcelain: the material the artist has chosen for his work.
This publication is dedicated to the site specific installation Una vita all’aria aperta (A Life in the Open Air) created for the Fondazione Luigi Rovati Art Museum, where the works occupy three spaces: the building’s entrance hall, with four Etruscan-inspired masks; the entrance hall of the Piano Nobile, with four characters with ancient features moving in a circular dance, suspended in mid-air, while on the wall a pair of birds lean outwards; the large façade overlooking the garden, animated by reliefs of anthropomorphic figures, animals and floral elements.
Cibelli prefers the whiteness of biscuit porcelain, obtained by firing kaolin at a very high temperature, which allows him to model marble-like bodies and drapery. He shapes his ideas directly in clay, using a plaster mould to create white, raw forms that must then pass the test of fire. An emblem of both resistance and fragility, in his hands porcelain becomes carnal, ironic and popular. His figures and fragments are metaphors where the form is never quite the same, nor quite different: leaves, branches, faces, legs and hands stretch out, seducing each other in a dance of pleasure, play, surprise and life.
His repertoire is as changeable as his thinking. Diego Cibelli eagerly absorbs everything he sees, from everyday objects to Renaissance and Neoclassical engravings, Darwinian drawings depicting aquatic microorganisms, plant and animal life, Greek and Etruscan art, fairy tales, comedy and mythological bestiaries. For him, creation is rêverie in action: a tool for direct knowledge of the world, an essential component of reason.
A native of Naples, after studying in Campania and Berlin, he set up his studio in Scampia: in the heart of a neighbourhood marked by unfulfilled utopias and the failure of rational urban planning, the idea of beauty as an act of resistance, a breath of fresh air amid the chaos, was born. This is why his art is a guerrilla conducted according to his own rules, which can be understood by looking at the recent and more ancient history of porcelain: the material the artist has chosen for his work.
This publication is dedicated to the site specific installation Una vita all’aria aperta (A Life in the Open Air) created for the Fondazione Luigi Rovati Art Museum, where the works occupy three spaces: the building’s entrance hall, with four Etruscan-inspired masks; the entrance hall of the Piano Nobile, with four characters with ancient features moving in a circular dance, suspended in mid-air, while on the wall a pair of birds lean outwards; the large façade overlooking the garden, animated by reliefs of anthropomorphic figures, animals and floral elements.
Cibelli prefers the whiteness of biscuit porcelain, obtained by firing kaolin at a very high temperature, which allows him to model marble-like bodies and drapery. He shapes his ideas directly in clay, using a plaster mould to create white, raw forms that must then pass the test of fire. An emblem of both resistance and fragility, in his hands porcelain becomes carnal, ironic and popular. His figures and fragments are metaphors where the form is never quite the same, nor quite different: leaves, branches, faces, legs and hands stretch out, seducing each other in a dance of pleasure, play, surprise and life.
Diego Cibelli. Una vita all'aria aperta
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