An Argentine puts a controversial sculpture in a square in New York

Sofia Poggi

10/13/2020 17:07

• Clarín.com

• Culture

Updated 10/13/2020 5:32 PM

How did

become

the bad

in the story?

Raped by

, cursed and banished by Athena, and finally murdered and humiliated by Perseus, this character from classical mythology was always, in its different versions, a monstrous figure, a woman whose evil manifested itself in her snake hair, in her killer look.

But now the story is reread and re-signified by

Luciano Garbati, who inverted the image that over the centuries was used to represent the myth: now it

, and fixes her gaze of stone in those who hurt her.

Luciano Garbati

began his artistic training in Buenos Aires and followed it in Rome, where he perfected his technique and deepened his love for Italian mannerism.

He is the author of the bust of Raúl Alfonsín that is in his mausoleum.

After going viral a couple of years ago, his sculpture

(Medusa con la Cabeza) will now be located

.

Sitting inside the truck where they transported the work, while both he and she protect themselves from the rain and wait to complete the installation, Garbati talks with

to reflect on the path of his sculpture and his own.

Luciano Garbati.

With the bust of Raúl Alfonsín, in 2009. Photo: Clarín Archive

"This square is surrounded by Justice buildings," he explains.

It is the small and picturesque

, in the southern area (or 'Downtown') of Manhattan.

One such precinct that

mentions is the New York State Criminal Court, a massive building with three rectangular blocks that tower over the interns like a stone court.

On its facade, a phrase by Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States, is read in capital letters: "Equal and exact justice for all men, regardless of their status or their convictions."

What caught Garbati's attention and made him decide on that park in front of other better known or more attractive ones was

, a word that was historically used in both English and Spanish to designate to a citizenship made up of

, a citizenship that today we would consider incomplete, insufficient and a use of language that at this point makes noise.

Detail.

The head of Perseus.

AFP photo

“The criticism is not Jefferson,” explains the forty-seven-year-old sculptor.

"Since the work began its journey, I have received a lot of messages and there is always an association between sculpture and justice."

Indeed, his work not only

, but it is also inevitable to make a visual association between her and the classic allegorical representation of Justice, that bandaged woman holding a scale.

But the association is made by contrast: in this case

;

They are eyes that can petrify and that now also accuse.

Furthermore, she

, but rather holds the head of the man who went to seek her to kill her, to boast of his death.

But, far from what could be interpreted, the artist

.

In fact,

puts a lot of emphasis on this: "

is nothing more than a

, of a rape, of a curse, of exile and, finally, of this man who went to kill her to show off."

The woman's posture, her bodily attitude, her gaze do not speak of a violent retaliation but of the need to

and say “This is where this has come.

Enough".

reached her limit, and no one is going to approach her without her defending herself.

Antecedent.

The Medusa by Laurente Marqueste

But why, then, does he hold the head of Perseus?

Why not Poseidon, who raped her, or Athena, who exiled her and blamed her for what had happened to her?

On the one hand, the ingenuity and power of the work lie precisely in the dialogue with the previous versions, in which it

, such as those of Benvenuto Cellini or Antonio Canova, or in which he was about to cut it, as in the Laurent-Honoré Marqueste version.

"It is the climax of the narrative of the myth," says Garbati.

“The challenge in sculpture is to achieve a kind of snapshot that refers to an entire story, not just to that particular moment.

In fact, in the look there is even an attitude towards the future.

He is not saying 'I'm going for everyone', but he is saying 'Don't come for me'.

Two re-readings: that of the myth, that of the work

In eternal dialogue with the past and the cultural and philosophical foundations of our culture,

is encouraged to address

.

However, one of the most interesting aspects of the process of this sculpture is that the reading we make of it today is not the one that the author had conceived when creating it: “It became famous in 2018, but it is from 2008!

And feminism, although it has been present for a long time, at that time perhaps it did not have the presence that it has today.

I was not speaking from that place.

Indeed, the feminist reading that is done today about this

was not premeditated.

Even so, Garbati reflects, on the one hand, on the independence of the work from the artist's intentions;

and, on the other hand, expresses gratitude for the opportunity for reflection and growth that enabled him: “It was a real opportunity because, since it went viral, I received messages, the vast majority, from

, who felt empathy and who shared with me their personal, exciting, visceral experiences ”.

See this post on Instagram

A post shared by John Cusack (@johncusack) on Oct 11, 2020 at 2:56 PDT

Since his sculpture began to move through the networks with a life of its own (it was shared by celebrities such as actor

), Luciano was practically forced to read the world in a different way.

“It gave me the possibility to rethink a lot of things in my own life.

Whether we like it or not, we are the fruit of a patriarchal society ”, he reflects.

“Regardless of whether one has made the effort to be the most open, the most understanding, the most fair, we all have a burden that we may not be fully aware of.

The point is that it is necessary, today more than ever, to question what constitutes us ”.

PK