Paula Seggy Gallery

With great success, the exhibition "Salvatore Cuschera a tutto tondo" was inaugurated on Thursday, March 21st, and during its opening, until April 25th, it offers several significant moments to delve into the sculptor's journey and admire a new, unpublished work, symbolizing the artist's versatility.

On Thursday, April 11th, at 6:00 PM, the publication dedicated to the exhibition, presented in both Italian and English, will be unveiled, with a contribution from Luigi Sansone. Produced by the Paula Seegy Gallery, the publication features images and critical text by the curator, offering a comprehensive overview of Salvatore Cuschera's art, particularly focusing on recent years. Some copies, in limited edition, will be personalized by the artist and accompanied by a unique artwork.

From April 15th to 21st, during the Fuori Salone week, as part of the events in the 5 Vie District, the sculpture "Magical Form" (64x89.7x71cm), created by the artist in the United Kingdom in 2019, will be exhibited.

The work is perfectly aligned with this year's theme for the Salone del Mobile: "Materia Natura”, which aims to explore the relationship between these two words from a sustainability perspective. Cuschera's work, characterized by warm reddish tones and rounded, soft shapes, is made with one of the most natural materials - cow dung mixed with crushed straw and sand; a composition often used to plaster the exterior walls of farms in the UK or build homes in Maasai villages in Kenya. The wooden structure and metal mesh used to create a massive form, along with the appearance of an ancient construction, give the work an identity bordering between sculpture and architecture, which, thanks to the shafts of light penetrating it, resembles stilts or ancient constructions carved into the tuff of Cappadocia.

According to Luigi Sansone, "Magical Form catapults us back in time, into an abstract dimension of light and matter where energies and phenomena dominate that science can never fully comprehend, as there are realities beyond our deepest knowledge.”

These events provide another opportunity to visit the exhibition "Salvatore Cuschera a tutto tondo”, which enlivens the spaces of the Paula Seegy Gallery with a selection of 40 medium and small-sized works, including wall pieces and installations, mostly unpublished.

These works reveal Salvatore Cuschera's deep connection to nature, opposites, and the use of various materials. Primarily, iron stands out, despite its hardness and limited malleability, it is bent, forged, and curved, sometimes appearing light; its processing restores to the sculptures the purity of lines, balance, and harmonious rhythms.

The artist's exploration also extends to the use of wood, ceramics, paper, and fabric. Among these, fabric finds significant representation in the exhibition by the unpublished fabric series composed of 5 elements, "Between Sky and Earth: Impressions on Bogolan" (2009), created following a trip to Senegal and Mali. Inspired by African 'bògòlanfini', Cuschera infuses the work with a lively and joyful appearance through the reworking of the production process and original chromatic intervention.

Biographical notes

Salvatore Cuschera is born in Scarlino, in the province of Grosseto, in 1958. He graduates in sculpture from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Always in Milan, from 1990, he begins exhibiting his works in collective and solo exhibitions. He embarks on his first trip to Greece, where he visits Crete and its museums, studying Greek sculpture and Minoan-Mycenaean art in depth. He later travels to the Netherlands and Germany, where he comes into contact with works by Bauhaus artists and deepens his knowledge of Russian constructivism. Back in Italy, he creates his first sculptures in colored iron, synthesizing his interest in painting, sculpture, and architecture, and participates in numerous solo and group exhibitions.In Gibellina, he participates in the "Atelier del Mediterraneo" with Markus Lüpertz, an event curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, and in 1992, thanks to Pietro Consagra, he creates his first public sculpture for the Municipality of Gibellina. He wins several awards and participates in important group exhibitions, including the XIV Rome Quadriennale d’Arte. In 2011, at the 54th Venice Biennale, he exhibits an installation in the gardens of the Arsenale, and for the Faenza Prize at the MIC - International Museum of Ceramics. In 2018, two of the artist's sculptures are selected to be exhibited at the Farnesina, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome. In the same year, a monographic book edited by Giuseppe Appella is published by Silvana Editoriale. In 2019, he creates three large sculptures for the park of the Farleys House & Gallery, 'Home of the Surrealists', in Chiddingly, East Sussex, UK. In 2022, one of his sculptures is included in an exhibition project at the Horti of Collegio Borromeo in Pavia. Recently, he is invited to participate in a group exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. His works are permanently housed in public and private collections, including in Italy the Museo del Novecento in Milan, the MUSMA in Matera, and the public space in Gibellina. He currently lives and works between Italy and the United Kingdom.

Info

Book presentation on Thursday, April 11th, at 6:00 PM

Fuori Salone - Exhibition of the sculpture "Magical form" from April 15th to April 21st

Opening hours from April 15th to April 21st, 10:30 AM - 7:30 PM

Exhibition Title: Salvatore Cuschera a tutto tondo

Curated by: Luigi Sansone

Venue: Paula Seegy Gallery, via San Maurilio 14 - Milan

Dates: March 21st – April 25th, 2024

Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Free admission

Contact: paula@paulaseegygallery.com– mobile +39 340 4215312

www.paulaseegygallery.com