Sculpture

Bruno Ceccobelli was born in 1952 in Todi, where he currently lives and works. He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome and later, independently, ancient and modern philosophies and religions. His first show was in 1972. He has had 120 solo exhibitions, and 320 group exhibitions, in 25 different countries and in 63 Italian cities. His works are exhibited in 13 museums around the world. Recently Ceccobelli has been working on sculptures -- metaphysics and symbolic shapes in bronze and marble. His spiritual poetics are expressed in symbolic, iconographic shapes with soft colors.

Ceccobelli is among a number of Expressionist-minded artists whose work has an explicitly spiritual bent. There is a story behind each of his latest pieces, many of which resemble altarpieces and other Christian objects but that depend, according to this Italian artist, on a religiosity largely of his own design.

Contrasts between dark and light, between inside and outside, reflect spiritual struggles resolved in forms like the circle and the equilateral triangle. He makes reference to numerology, particularly to the number 9, with its spiral shape, and to alchemy. But it is not so much this elaborate, and in some cases vague, iconography that makes Mr. Ceccobelli's concoctions intriguing as is his ability to sculpt, paint and combine materials like tin and wood in provocative ways. His images of hands, faces and figures appear in ghostly shapes, as if they were fading relics.

When he is at his most persuasive, Mr. Ceccobelli balances garishness with a few telling, subtle gestures. Quite apart from the symbolism he wishes to attach to his objects, he expresses in this way the quiet sense of mystery that may occasionally be felt by looking at even the most bombastic piece of religious art.