Ivan Cusi Art
From the passion for Michelangelo to the search for perfection in new techniques and unconventional tools, to arrive at that innovation that makes the art of sculpture modern.
Ivan has cultivated a passion for art since he was a child, often finding himself in contact with works sold by his family. Soon he had the opportunity to test art through practice, experiencing that it was not just a theoretical passion but much more a natural predisposition to modeling at the beginning and then to sculpture of stone material.
Always passionate about Michelangelo, like most sculptors he was lucky enough to visit many museums in adolescence, and often tells in his interviews that being Italian can allow us to have in our DNA that faculty of being able to understand our predispositions to art: "..I believe that the air we breathe and the cities we live in, the mental photo library of the architectural elements of our nation allows us to be able to nourish and grow artistically in a vision of art that belongs above all to Italy".
The training course begins with a test with the modeling which took place at an early age, at the time of middle school, when starting from a simple material such as clay it gives shape to a "mask"In the shape of a pigeon, which held a ring in its mouth, a typical architectural element used in the past to knock on doors:".. In a very natural way I was able to give this sense of symmetry which was not only in the perimeter part of the work, but also in the volumes. It was like this, naturally, like a child playing football .."
At the artistic high school he refined the techniques of modeling and in concomitance with this, outside the school, he began to sculpt the peperino, typical material of the territory of Tuscia Viterbese and the marble.
After a long journey, made up of self-taught tests and experiments, he begins to experience the bas-relief and figure, making ornamental objects. The art school transmits a great energy and desire to undertake an artistic and professional path, thanks also to a professor and the empathy that was created between student and teacher, following which decides to move to Carrara to face the Academy of Fine Arts of sculpture, starting to explore more and more in-depth techniques especially in laboratories.
The academy gives him the knowledge of anatomy, of the history of art and proportions, in particular the Nude School. Laboratories, on the other hand, are the true vehicle of both technical and finishing and detail growth, and harden it to face the real difficulties of sculpture.
Come on Carrara laboratories, begins to approach sculpture with a classical approach, following the examples of the great sculptors such as Michelangelo and Bernini, experiments with the modus operandi of removing matter and smoothing, bringing the surface to extreme perfection, but he soon realizes that it was necessary the introduction of an element of modernity and innovation, and therefore create a new way of sculpting through unconventional tools. It is from this continuous experimentation that he takes inspiration for the sculpture that will consecrate his artistic career, the work "Francis", Dedicated and inspired by the pontiff and built between 2019 and 2020.
Ivan Cusi talks about himself, listen to the full interview
"Francis"
MARBLE STATUARIO CAVE MICHELANGELO - 2020/2021
It is a complex work, sculpted from a block of statuary marble, in which Ivan makes use of and experiments with new techniques and new tools, to arrive at a very accentuated realism, a muscular expressiveness and a level of detail never seen before in works of this type.
Among the details that lead the work to be a sculpture within a sculpture we find that ofskin anatomy, a game of details obtained in the last tenths of a millimeter thanks to the help of unconventional tools in classical sculpture. The introduction of these new traits creates that element of innovation, that mixture of elements such as for example the sense of beauty combined with defect. The contrast between the defect and the beauty told by the perfect image of the Pope understood as the Vicar of Christ, an angelic figure therefore devoid of that humanity that instead all normal people have, in extreme contrast with the reality of the body, expressed to the maximum in the skin anatomy, is one of the elements that makes the work human.
Another particular feature of this sculpture are the eyes. We find in the eyes a extreme attempt in wanting to go beyond the limit that few have crossed. The black eye, hollowed out in depth and therefore very dark with that central light point that gives it this sense of life, created with an extreme play of volumes and floor passages, between the very hollowed out and the very emerging, creates an effect that makes the realistic eye. The extreme difficulty in realizing the look then, in a balance of millimeters, the play of light and shadow through this obstinate "enter into matter" this "go deep inside"Is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating elements of this work, a unique and extremely dangerous operation since it is not possible to correct in marble, but which has succeeded perfectly making this bust a very dynamic sculpture and giving light and expression to this smiling face.
The anatomy of the face and the management of the face is another aspect in which Ivan releases all of his sense of innovation, of pursuit of perfection, and experiences for the first time a smiling face playing with facial muscles expression that deform the face and make it alive and present, that smile that Ivan accentuated by raising his forehead and cheeks and pulling back the mandibular muscles in what was for the artist a continuous experimentation, obtained with great difficulty but which has donated to the work great realism and dynamism.
We find in Francis, a strong resemblance to the figure of a child, therefore an elder in a child, that element of purity, fully expressed by the figure of the pontiff and by the material used, marble. The harmony between this sense of the child and the skin, elements that must walk together, without one thing prevailing over the other, creates that sense of perfection that makes the work come alive, which fully renders the perfection ofpure soul that comes from God.
Mater Hominum
D-Plast and Ash wood, 600-color micro-led light - 2021
A face in motion, a gaze that follows you, a work designed to amaze and to be shared, to bring an object of art but also of decoration, innovation and spirituality into the homes of admirers.
Mater Hominum, is the result of months of tests, study of shapes and geometries, of lights and shadows. A work whose optical effect realized in a natural way in the sculpture same as the face, amazes the observer from the first impact. Thanks to an in-depth study of the concavities and geometries carved in the plaster, Ivan was able to create a natural optical effect, which gives the constant and real sensation of being observed by the Madonna. Both the eyes, therefore the gaze, and the entire face rotate in a completely natural movement, so realistic that it is often mistaken for a tablet or a digital representation, but in reality it is a D- Plast, a particular high-strength water-based gypsum. The frame is in ash wood, a material that iconographically acts as a bridge between man and the divine, and being clear it perfectly accompanies the object's sense of modernity. And finally the micro LED light, made in Italy with a particular chrome plating made of 600 different colors to create an optimal light for the white figure inside combined with a precise angle creates the optical effect of the gaze in motion.
In a few days it will be possible to buy the work “Mater Hominum” on this site.
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Upcoming Exhibitions
Meet my works
From 23 September 2021 until the end of the year.
Viterbo, Palace of the Popes
The work "Francesco" will be exhibited inside the Alexander IV room of Palazzo dei Papi.
They wrote about me
Ivan is a "great artist", he received this gift from God. I love to address a thought to him with admiration accompanied by many good wishes for his bright future.
Ezio Cardinali
Architect, Art Critic
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