Works by Bruno Wapoth and Amber Sena

Two works by Bruno Walpoth

 

In the XIX century, Jacob Burckhardt was calling Bellini’s altarpieces

Existenzbilder, “pictures of existence”, and the first thing that stands

out when looking at the works of Bruno Walpoth is their pure and

sufficient “existence”. However, this strong presence is wrapped and

isolated by empty spaces, detached from any context and without

any attributes that qualify its identity.

They are figures of the absolute, carved in lime, apple or walnut

wood, in which elegance and solidity are features with which the

sculptor measures the harmony between naturalism and invention.

The agreement is between “no motion” gestures and the absence of

manifest feelings. The eyes of the molded figures stare at a distant

point and rarely meet those of the spectator. Since the eyes are

detectors of emotions, if the contact with the other is almost denied,

the statues become distant, absorbed in their existence, swallowed

up by their thoughts.

This monumental fixity has ancient origins, it takes us back to the

Roman statuary, also paying homage to the fifteenth-century

tradition, especially the manner of Piero della Francesca. Likewise,

the humanity that Bruno Walpoth examines and creates, diversified

in poses, colors and patterns, always represents the same “ideal

greatness” of those who, corroded by doubt, oscillate between the

search for the good and the attraction towards evil.

Rabbi Nachman of Bratislava said: “The world makes two mistakes:

the first one consists in thinking that a great man can do no wrong,

and the second one is believing that when a great man makes a

mistake he ceases to be great.”

Walpoth instills in his sculptures this complacent awareness of being

caged in the dilemma preceding the right action to take and therefore

they do not perform any action. Nevertheless, the ability of the

sculptor in calibrating the synthesis of bodies and his attention to

detail lead the viewer to capture and essentially transcend the

physical and material aspects, and any expressiveness or limb

movement is no longer needed to determine its meaning.

The thin irregular touches of white enrich the wood tissue preventing

immobility of light on volumes, while the shades of the hair or little

clothing enliven the figures with visual and tactile values, but without

affecting the solemn guise or that sense of magic and silence that

embody the art of Bruno Walpoth, being its wonderful constant

 

 

PLUS

 

A work by Amber Sena

 

It is as if the work of Amber Sena wanted to resist the temptation

of indifference that often characterizes the contemporary forms,

and where the issue of proximity, of urgency as regards to

instances precisely related to the environment and to the human,

emerges as an edge of the modern. The work of Sena deals with

one of the capital issues of our time, and not only in the name of

defense of animals. The artist focuses on the traces of a sense

that perhaps can snatch us from such indifference, stating the

responsibility of art, once again called to participate in a present

we should take charge of.

Nightwatch, the Chased into the Dark series, Nightingale represent

the enigma, and a question not asking for an answer. The size of the

work implies that narrative impose itself, beyond artistic classification,

as an unavoidable need to think about what one does not want to

see. We are both attracted and repelled, we curiously approach, and

the work stands before us in the form of a vision questioning the

human and the subjectivity. First and last issue.

The story is therefore tripartite. South Africa, at nightfall the moaning

of a wounded rhinoceros breaks the silence of plains. The cub, near the

body of a dying mother, sees his destiny fulfilled and added to a tragic

statistic. As a solitary mountain in the moonlight, the silhouette of the

animal is witness to danger and extinction. The slaughtered head of

the rhinoceros cannot be thrown back without carrying the task of art

itself. As in the chorus of the ancient tragedy, the dull and demanding

roar of the animal vibrates, voice of that witness. In such voice, the

story of Amber Sena goes beyond the inhuman silence of death.

The notion of surface is also central in the work of the artist. On it,

the issues of time are engraved. The acrylic paint, polished, glazed,

vivid, protects the reflection of an opaque and detailed reality. Mirror

of depth, it is a film that has no thickness, but that only opens the

space of thought. And the Ark is not empty: in it, Sena’s maze of

cracks and scales, map of existences that risk being deleted, in the

hands of human will, slave of its own time, that acts according to the

sad logic of sale and commodity.

As regards the existence, never before it has been exposed to death

and destruction. Yet Sena’s accuracy and gestural density condense a

reflection about the indomitable proximity of the human to this dying

world. The animal, in fact, is a symbol of impotence, of inability to

communicate and insufficiency of words.

If originally the sense of community was based on sharing the

experience of the animal, sacrificed in the name of the higher

instance of the soul, now, today, the world seems to have given up

on such responsibility, insensitive in front of a complex and

problematic reality. For this reason, Sena’s space is an invitation to

approach, trail and hope for a more aware existence. That is what

we should answer for, to ourselves, to the others. And from such

trail we should start again

Done