Angelo Musco (visual artist)
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Angelo Musco (born 3 February 1973) is an Italian-born, New York City-based contemporary artist, known for photographic landscapes comprised of thousands of nude bodies.
Early years[edit]
Musco was born in Naples, Italy. Weighing more than 14 lbs (6.5 kilos) after an eleven month gestation caused significant birth complications and injury.[1] These complications caused a tearing of the neck, arm, and shoulder nerves on his right side, an injury known as Erb's Palsy. Angelo spent the first ten years of his life in physical therapy, to strengthen and restore the injured side of his body.[2]
Musco attended university at the Academia Di Belle Arti in Naples and took a small apartment in the historic part of the city, located near the Napoli Sotterranea. The mysticism, history and legends of this ancient city[3] were an ongoing fascination for the young artist.
Musco spent two semesters as an exchange student in Granada, Spain. Limited funding pushed Musco to experiment with installations and different natural materials, such as fire, stones and the bodies of his colleagues, the latter of which would continue throughout his career.
On December 8, 1997, Musco relocated to New York City. This date holds symbolic significance because it is the Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a public holiday in Italy.[4] For the artist, the idea of conception is a recurring theme, thus this date holds added significance as a new beginning in a new country.
Work[edit]
In developing his artistic language, Musco composed a massive on-going archive of nude bodies, from which he draws to build composite landscapes and images of natural and man-made architectures. This archive is substantiated by nude photo shoots held several times a year in private and public spaces, involving volunteers, models, businesses and government institutions.[5]
The sequence of the artist’s projects tell a connected story while weaving in themes relating to his difficult birth, nutrition, community, and the power of aggregation. While the body is featured, it is a medium sewn as tassels or used as brush strokes to build birds' nests, honeycombs, spiderwebs, forests, man-made ruins or a mystical city inspired by the Bible.[6] Musco’s projects take several months to many years to construct, using hundreds of thousands of nude bodies in each work.
Parthenogenesis[edit]
While researching ideas of pre-birth in 2005, Musco realized New York and Naples were on the same latitude. Wanting to explore this coincidence, he conceived of an installation of short videos with a recurring script happening in eleven different cities around the world all on the 41st parallel. The number eleven relates to the number of months Musco's mother carried him in the womb. An exhaustive trip was mapped out from NYC to Viseu, Portugal; Madrid, Spain; Naples, Italy; Istanbul, Turkey; Baku, Azerbaijan; Beijing, China; Aomori, Japan; Redwood National Park, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; and Lincoln, NE. Unique experiences included filming in the Forbidden City, at the Blue Mosque, and in the oilfields of Baku. The video debuted as a VIP collateral event at the Spring 2012 Armory Show in New York City and at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York City.[7]
Tehom[edit]
In 2010, Musco presented his first solo show in the United States at the Carrie Secrist Gallery in Chicago.[8] The title piece–Tehom–presents an underwater world populated with thousands of nude bodies. Etymologically, tehom is derived from Hebrew, meaning “deep” or “abyss,” and references the biblical primordial waters of creation found in the opening verses of the Book of Genesis. The artwork is made up of 22 individual panels measuring a total of 12' x 48'.
This series includes Avernus, inspired by the legendary inland lake supposed by the Romans to be the entrance to Hades; Sibille, a triptych of eleven women that directly references not only Greek mythology, but Musco's numerological reference to his time in the womb; Progeny, an amorphous 8’ x 8’ bundle of limbs and torsos floating like a giant human egg; and Hadal, a vortex of two thousand bodies reminiscent of a floating nest or a school of fish.
Hadal was presented at the 53rd Annual Venice Biennale in 2009, presented by the Moscow Museum of Modern Art.[9]
Cortex Series[edit]
In the summer of 2010, following the Carrie Secrist Gallery exhibition, Musco began production on the Cortex Series–an intricately woven forest environment composed entirely of human bodies. The works in this series draw from the transportive tissues and vessels of plants and trees–Phloem and Xylem–and are named as such, respectively. Also included in this project are a series of nests, titled Ovum.
The complete Cortex Project was presented in a solo exhibition in Paris by Acte 2 Galerie, April 2013.[10]
Fendi Baguette Sculpture[edit]
In 2013, Angelo Musco Studio was invited to create an interpretation of the iconic Fendi Baguette–an art commission project launched by Fendi in 1997.[11] The Baguette sculpture by Angelo Musco is delicately encrusted with eggshells, which play off the artist's dialogue on the power of aggregation. This medium–literal containers of life, reconstituted as one covering, builds a singular image that is both powerful and beautiful, symbolizing purity, fertility, security and the origins of life.
Sanctuary and Chrysalis[edit]
Musco's work continues to evolve, building off previous pieces. "There is a journey from one piece to another, and there is a constant connection...There is always a constant growth from one piece to another in complexity," the artist stated in an interview with Artnet.[12] While the Cortex project follows a story of the waters from Tehom, transferring up through the trees of the forest, the next project follows the roots of the trees down, enveloping a long-lost city, entitled Sanctuary. This man-made architectural piece took four years to complete and is inspired by a story in the Book of Genesis (11:1-9), of the Tower of Babel and the Confusion of Tongues with the ironic twist of intentionally seeking out volunteer models from diverse backgrounds who speak different languages. This concept led to multiple nude photo shoots around the world.[13]
Sanctuary also presents an easter egg for Musco's following piece. In front of one of the main towers, a model is featured as a Gate Keeper with a red butterfly on his shoulder[14]–a symbol of transformation and the artist's return to natural architecture. This butterfly element from Sanctuary becomes a cluster of red butterflies in Chrysalis (2017).
Sanctuary was shown in the "From Here to Eternity" exhibition at Maison Particulière in Brussels, Belgium, from October 2016 to April 2017.[15]
Aves and Aaru[edit]
Drawing from the ancient Egyptian myth of the "Weighing of the Heart"–the belief that if one's heart weighed less than the feather of Maat, one would be granted immortality. Musco began creating a ongoing series of feathers, a project entitled Aves. This series not only draws from the ancient Egyptian judgement of the dead, but also ties into his work from the Cortex series (specifically Ovum)–the link between nests and birds.
The Aaru series follows naturally, in line with the myth, alluding to the name of Paradise. Musco's Aaru series is comprised of 11 flowers.[16]
The Land of Scars[edit]
The concept of heavy hearts provoked self-reflection, and, in 2018, Musco initiated his most autobiographical work, choosing specific models who have left indelible marks on his life. This piece, entitled The Land of Scars, was the first in which the artist himself posed.[17]
A full-length documentary film was produced in 2021 to elaborate upon Musco's process and incorporate participants' perspectives to the artist and The Land of Scars. This eponymous film premiered at the School of Visual Arts Theater in New York City on April 27, 2022.[18]
Video[edit]
Bibliography[edit]
- Operaprena (Charta 2003)
- Instant Book: Italian Artists New York (Charta 2009)
- Unconditional Love (Buro 17, 2009)
Citations[edit]
- ↑ "Angelo Musco's Humanscapes Reveal Dante's Inferno-like Scenes". HuffPost. Buzzfeed, Inc. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
- ↑ McCauley, Adam (8 March 2013). "The Art of Aggregation: Angelo Musco's Bodyscapes". TIME Lightbox. TIME Inc. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
- ↑ "Napoli Sotterranea". Napoli Sotterranea. Ministero per I beni e le Attività Culturali. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
- ↑ "Bio". Angelo Musco. Angelo Musco Studio. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
- ↑ "Naked (and Very Close) in the Name of Art". New York Times. New York Times. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
- ↑ "Angelo Musco's Humanscapes Reveal Dante's Inferno-like Scenes". HuffPost. Buzzfeed, Inc. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
- ↑ G., F. (10 March 2012). "Angelo Musco's Parthenogenesis. From a Personal Experience to a Universal Language". i-Italy. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
- ↑ Jason Foumberg (31 May 2010). "Review: Angelo Musco/Carrie Secrist Gallery". New City Art. Newcity Communications, Inc. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
- ↑ "Unconditional Love". Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ↑ "Angelo Musco: –Cortex System". The Eye of Photography. The Eye of Photography. 7 May 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
- ↑ Massimo Mattioli (13 October 2013). "Angelo Musco disegna la nuova Baguette d'artista per Fendi. Dopo Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, commissione di prestigio per l'artista italiano: ecco le immagini". Artribune (in Italian). Retrieved 19 April 2023.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ "Artist Interview: Angelo Musco". YouTube. artnet. 11 November 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ↑ Beckett Mufson (8 August 2016). "[Exclusive] An Artist Spent Four Years Building a New Tower of Babel—from Millions of Nudes". Vice. Vice. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ↑ "SANCTUARY by Angelo Musco, 2016". Vimeo. Musco Studio. 30 December 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ↑ "From Here to Eternity". A.R.M. Art Research Map. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ↑ Maria Erman (18 January 2018). "angelo musco creates heavenly flowers of nude human bodies for the mythic aaru garden". Design Boom. Design Boom. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ↑ Massimo Mattioli (12 April 2023). "Il corpo come forma. Angelo Musco". ArtsLife. WE WEB COMPANY. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
- ↑ "THE LAND OF SCARS – A Documentary Film by Angelo Musco". SVA Theater. SVA NYC. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
Sources[edit]
- Time.com Lightbox, 2013
- ArtNet Interview 2013
- Huffington Post, 2012
- My Modern Met, 2012
- Frameweb, 2012
- Chicago Tribune July 2, 2010
- Huffington Post 2010
- New City Art, 2010
External links[edit]
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