Giuseppe Gentili - The Pipe Smoker

In the history of art, a clear distinction can often be made between figurative and abstract stylistic currents. However, when an artist's goal is to represent an object that resonates with phenomenal reality but is also charged with hidden and symbolic meaning, this boundary can become blurred. In this case, Giuseppe Gentili moves within the figurative realm, but exerts expressionistic overtones.

In this sculpture, we see Giuseppe Gentili's pursuit of an artificial aesthetic. He begins with reality but takes the liberty of modifying it to create an expressive work. The figure of the pipe smoker is thus deformed, its proportions elongated, while his body is deconstructed and reconstructed in a juxtaposition of planes that gives the work a dynamic and frenetic rhythm. The beauty of this work lies precisely in its industrial aesthetic combined with the Cubist influence of the subject's decomposition and multiple viewpoints.

Giuseppe Gentili (Pollenza, 1942 – Camerino, 2018). He studied art and earned a Master of Arts degree in 1963. At twenty-five, he exhibited his first sculptures, receiving widespread and critical acclaim. He was a collector's item, including Charlie Chaplin, who purchased three of his works; Federico Fellini, the director of "Crazy Tales"; and Pablo Picasso, who accepted the offer of a "Don Quixote," an iconic figure in the sculptor's oeuvre. The Iberian artist placed the work, over two meters tall, in the grounds of his villa in Mongius (Nice). He exhibited in Montreal (Canada) and Nice, where, at the third "Grand Prix de New York," he was awarded the "Plaquette d'or - Statue de la Liberté" plaque. In 1979, the artist moved to Spoleto, establishing a fruitful dialogue with the Festival dei Due Mondi, which resulted in exhibitions and celebrations of his art (Spoleto Magazine). Works of human commitment and social significance followed: from research focused on episodes from the Bible (the Cain and Abel series is particularly dramatic) to the tragic face of Christ on the Shroud of Turin; from Don Quixote to the cry of The Man of Sarajevo.

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