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The Italian-born artist now resides in Michigan where he
has taught art history and studio classes at Wayne State
University and sculpture at the Center for Creative Studies in
Detroit. His work has been widely exhibited both in the United
States and Europe in such places such as The Detroit Institute
of Arts, The Newark Museum, The Smithsonian, and London's
British Museum. He has had numerous public and private
commissions, many of which were for major public building
projects in Michigan and which therefore took as their themes
the history and landscape of Michigan. |
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Essay
Sergio
De Giusti
Sergio
De Giusti is an Italian-born sculptor who now resides in
Michigan where he has taught art history and studio classes
for over twenty years. He is currently the subject of a
one-man exhibition at The STUDIO where his sculptures will be
on display through September 12, 1999. He has had numerous
public and private commissions, many of which were for major
public building projects in Michigan and which therefore took
as their themes the history and landscape of that region.
Mr. De Giusti's work, which is frequently in
relief, has a mysterious power and complexity. For example,
his relief entitled Images of Ur - Triptych is at the
same time very old and very new, depending on how one looks at
it. On first glance it reminds one of ancient Assyrian
sculptures such as the reliefs of Ashurbanipal with their
stiff warrior figures arrayed repetitively in row after row.
This connection is emphasized by the title: Ur, one of the
oldest cities in the world, was located in lower Mesopotamia.
But on closer examination it becomes clear that the sculptor
intends not only to allude to antiquity but to present-day
events, specifically the Gulf War in which the United States
and its allies drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. U.S.
soldiers, with their distinctive helmets and cartridge belts,
are seen clutching body bags while veiled Iraqi women uneasily
observe them. Mr. De Giusti thus employs his art to show how
the past and present mingle on the same stage of history.
This mingling is evident in other examples of
Mr. De Giusti's work, such as Benin Bell. The title and
form of this sculpture recalls the African art of Benin and
early twentieth century modernism in which African art is
echoed. In its similarity to a Corinthian helmet, it also
reminds the viewer of ancient Greek art. This eclecticism
reflects the artist's interest in the ethnographic and
ritualistic aspects of art, especially of primitive art in
which masks and other coverings connected with religious
ceremony were employed. Perhaps the best representatives of
the artist's interest in religious ritual and older forms of
art are his wrapped figures, two excellent examples of which, Fetish
Figure I and II, are in the exhibition. These
disturbing creations, which recall to the popular mind an
Egyptian mummy, are for the artist symbols of Italian
religious tradition in which shrouded images were carried in
procession.
Mr. De Giusti's modernist outlook is reflected
in the way in which he treats his surfaces. In Images of Ur
the artist achieves a broken, fragmented look by repeatedly
stamping the clay surface with a wood block. In others, such
as The Odyssey and The Conversion, the surface
is animated by worm-like forms which cover both background and
figures. This concern with the treatment of surfaces reflects
Mr. De Giusti's belief that in art the human act of creation
is very important and that the process as evidenced by the
artist's "mark" must be visible. This modernist
ideology helps link Mr. De Giusti's work with that of his
contemporary heroes and compatriots, Giacomo Manzu and Marino
Marini.
-Irving Gumb
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Benin Bell
Wax
for bronze
$2,500
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Don Carlo
Hydrostone
$1,200
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Hanging Stele
Hydrostone
$800
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The Conversation
Hydrostone
$900
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