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Sculpture & Memory: Works from the Gardner and by Luigi Ontani
February 9 – May 6, 2007
SanSebastianOntano, Luigi Ontani, 1998
This belongs to a series of ceramic works based on St. Sebastian made by the artist in collaboration with the Bottega d’Arte Gatti in Faenza.
Luigi Ontani is “St. Sebastian Ontano.” Notice the word play in the title. Ontano is the Italian word for alder, a plant commonly found along Italian river banks, which was used to build the pilings of Venice because of its impermeability to water. Ontani has adapted the alder leaf as a recurring motif in his work, a building block in the structure of his fantastic creations. The blending of words to create new meanings is typical of Ontani’s use of language in titling his works.
Photo: Clements/Howcroft Boston
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