Description
“ITALIAN MASTER OF THE MODERN BAROQUE”
Ovid’s Metamorphoses has the account of Acis and the sea-nymph Galatea’s love. Polyphemus, a jealous Cyclops who also loves Galatea, stumbles upon them hugging and smashes his adversary with a rock. Galatea transforms Acis into a river spirit as eternal as herself, putting an end to his violent obsession. The incident inspired songs, operas, paintings, and monuments throughout and after the Renaissance.
Angelo Basso is one of Italy’s most prominent figurative sculptors — an heir to the Baroque tradition of the 1600s.
Basso captures the lush, assertive style of that period in his evocative female figures. His lithe, confident women miraculously glide through sea waves with the rich flowing movement of the Baroque style. Basso’s figures are immortalized in magic moments of life or captured in the delicate grace of a courtly dance.
At the age of 18, Basso enjoyed his first solo show in Italy and, since then, has exhibited internationally in Germany, England, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, Japan, Australia and the United States.
The artist has received many accolades, including:
- Gondola d’Oro, 1983;
- First Prize at the Italy Arte Expo, 1983;
- the Premio Giotto Prize, 1984;
- the Stella d’Europa,1984.
Commissions include a sculpture presented to the Vatican’s Contemporary Art Collection, Rome.
