L’Oriano Galloni

The Guggenheim Museum Welcomes the Artist’s Sculptures in an Event Benefitting Arts for India

By Claire Fenton

In the spring of 2012, Italian artist L’Oriano Galloni (Viareggio, 1970) will participate in a gala organized by Alessandra Fremura, donating one of his sculptures to Arts for India at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Arts for India, a non-profit educational organization that supports the International Institute of Fine Arts in Modinagar, a New Delhi suburb, makes it possible for young Indians of limited means to carve out career paths in the fields of art and design by organizing events around the world.

Sculptor L’Oriano Galloni at his studio in New York City.

The piece, entitled White Moon, stands 30 feet high and has an estimated value of $2.5 million. The work is currently at his studio in New York. Galloni has also donated various small-scale sculptures, which will also be auctioned off during the presentation of Arts for India at the Guggenheim Museum on April 26, 2012.

In 1992 Galloni graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara with a major in painting and sculpture, and his pieces quickly gained international renown. His work has been exhibited in galleries and cultural institutions throughout Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Hong Kong, as well as throughout the United States, including in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Palm Beach and Santa Fe. His creations can be found in major public and private collections throughout Europe and the U.S.

White Moon consists of an enormous pillar of white and gray marble with steel accents crowned by a human torso, a being that appears to emerge from the stone and ascend to the heights. This piece is part of a series of sculptures entitled “People,” an ongoing project that the artist began a few years ago. The series consists of an army of enormous, stylized human forms, which sometimes exceed 25 feet in height, as is the case with White Moon, and symbolize the guarding forces of humanity and the universe.

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L’Oriano Galloni, White Moon, 2011, assembled marble and steel, 30 feet high. Photo: Paola Cup Cha.

“Silent Souls,” the name Galloni has given these pieces, is derived from an episode in his life. As he was walking through a forest in Germany, it suddenly appeared to him as though thousands of souls were protecting him, thousands of silent beings that emanated a vital energy. Years later, he lived through a similar experience in a New York subway during rush hour. He confesses that in the midst of the chaos and the bustle, he once again felt the presence of these enormous beings that seemed to filter out the spiritual pollution that filled the atmosphere. As a result of these events, these figures started being reflected constantly in his work. “I saw creatures that looked like human beings, very tall and skinny, expressing sincerity and serenity,” Galloni says. “While absorbing my negative spiritual energy, their white and pure bodies constantly changed colors and forms. The white faces represent pureness and serenity as their bodies absorb the negativity and become dark.”

His pieces display a masterful technical command and a tireless desire for experimentation, but, above all, they value artisanal work in a world that has bet on industrialization. Galloni uses a variety of materials in his works, including wood from such distant lands as Italy, Brazil, Turkey, Africa and Germany, as well as fragments of fossilized wood. He then combines these with different types of marble, as well as metals such as aluminum and steel.

The creative process starts with the selection and gathering of materials. Galloni then begins cutting the wood into layers or the marble into uniform blocks. These he combines and joins together until he obtains a compact block that he will later shape, and to it he incorporates molten metal. The creation of just one piece can take several months, and Galloni usually works on about 10 pieces at a time.

When he chooses his materials he does so with symbolism in mind. In the case of these pieces, it comes from a desire to express how these silent souls will protect man and guide him in the long journey that is life, without discriminating between races, genre, cultures, religions, political or ethnic differences. It is precisely this combination of different kinds of materials that makes each piece a dynamic whole within which different times, essences and concepts dialogue.

Galloni’s art draws its influence from a variety of styles, ranging from elements of classic Greek and Roman sculpture to a stylization of the codes of Modernism. Generally, the parts created in wood and metal stand out due to their simplicity. The artist makes the most of the qualities and textures that these materials offer by using minimal intervention; he only accentuates small details around the ribcage or abdomen. Marble is the material that gives him the opportunity to delight in the realistic representation of muscles, veins, bones, feet, hands and to accentuate some facial features, thus achieving a harmonious whole.

Thanks to his incredible hands, this talented artist affords the world glimpses of ethereal beauty. Sculptures such as White Moon rise to the heavens and appear to float in space, like a vibrant and sensual army of guardians.

Oriano Galloni is represented in the United States by Evan Lurie Gallery. 30 West Main Street. Carmel, IN, 46032  Phone: 317 844 8400 / www.evanluriegallery.com

Claire Fenton is an arts writer based in Miami.