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Jan 15,2006 - Jan 22,2006 |
10 - The shape of sacred beauty
Calabrian-born artist Antonio Caruso immortalizes faith through his sculptures
By Antonio Maglio
Originally Published: 2002-12-22
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Antonio Caruso
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The shapeless piece of wood slowly comes alive under the chisel, as a sculptor's hand carves it in search of a face, a body movement, or even a look. Little by little, a figure emerges from the fibres and chips that kept it concealed, and it becomes a sweet baroque Madonna and Child. You can't help thinking that maybe the Greek philosophers were right in their idea that the shape is already present within the matter, marble or wood, and that the artist's task is to take it out.
Antonio Caruso lays his chisel down, gives a final look at his freshly drafted Madonna and sits down.
"Yes, I believe those Greek philosophers were indeed right," he says. "But I add something else to this work of taking a figure out of the wood. Especially when carving sacred sculptures, I try and identify with people who'll look at them, in an effort to give expression to their need to pray; to put themselves in communication with God. Then I ask myself and the matter I'm handling something more, so that this communication becomes as direct and immediate as possible."
Caruso is a Calabrian, born in Serra San Bruno, and has been living in Canada for five years. The first time he came here was in 1982, for an exhibition of his works (frescoes and statues) at the Thunder Bay National Exhibition Centre. The success he achieved was so great that he was granted a high award by the municipal authorities and had an easy time in obtaining further exhibitions in major Canadian cities. He imported the fresco, an ancient pictorial process that requires the artist's mastery of technique as well as a deep knowledge of materials.
A great fresco by Antonio Caruso will be unveiled on December 8 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Woodbridge. The work, created thanks to the generosity of Vittorio De Zen and his family, is eight metres wide and four metres tall, and is dedicated to the Madonna. It joins two more large frescoes, both made by Caruso, dedicated to the themes of the Baptism and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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