Stefano Bombardieri. Boy and elephant

The Erarta Museum presents an exhibition of monumental sculptures by the Italian artist Stefano Bombardieri, who invites the viewer to see the world through the eyes of a child.

• Giant beasts caught in the trap of modern culture
• Works balancing between hyperrealism and surrealism
• Author who has twice participated in the Venice Biennale

Life-sized whales and rhinos, crocodiles and elephants, made by Bombardieri, are somewhat reminiscent of baggage forgotten in the transfer zone, as if stuck between heaven and earth - they do not fully belong to any of the worlds. Crafted from modern plastic materials such as fiberglass, they balance between hyperrealism and surrealism. These giant beasts, suspended on ropes, tired from a long journey, crushed by mountains of baggage, isolated and clumsy, fell into the trap of modern culture.

The exhibition "Boy and Elephant" in the Erarta Museum will feature fifteen sculptures by the author, ranging in size from thirty centimeters to five meters. Despite the seemingly grotesque-paradoxical appearance, they are not intended to entertain the viewer, please him or give exhaustive answers. Through the images of defenseless, lonely giants, the artist raises a number of acute questions. What is the nature of time and its perception? Can we overcome the pain? What is the relationship between reality and fiction, art and its language? The solutions lie in fantasy - Stefano Bombardieri invites the viewer to take a journey into the poetic land of memories and look at the world through the eyes of a child.

The exhibition "Boy and Elephant" in Erarta is also a story that omniscience is possible. She invites us to see life as whole and indivisible, to plunge into the space of questions that do not imply clear answers: after all, each answer is a prison for the imagination, a small death of another dream. The artist himself describes his art as a kind of therapy, prevention of the depletion of the imagination. Therefore, the exhibition in Erarta allows viewers to plunge into a different reality - into one where everything is possible.

About the author:

Stefano Bombardieri was born in 1968 in Brescia, Italy. He mastered his first artistic skills quite early, experimenting with various techniques and materials in the studio of his father, the sculptor Remo Bombardieri. The idea of sculpture was formed in the future artist under the influence of both the masters of figurative art: the Italian futurist Umberto Boccioni, the British sculptor Henry Moore, and the conceptual artists from the Arte Povera movement ("Poor Art")

Since the late 1990s, Stefano Bombardieri has been participating in group and solo exhibitions: first, his compatriots got to know the author’s works, and then the audience in Europe, in particular in France, Switzerland, Germany and England. The young sculptor is widely known for the monumental installations presented in public spaces and large exhibition areas. The author has participated in more than fifteen exhibitions, including the 52nd and 54th Venice Biennale.