Description
Jesus Crucified – bearer of the preciousness of life or Naophorus – bearer of the gifts?
Objects with recycled material made by the artist Ciro, Roberto Cipollone, carry a certain ambivalence:
- On the one hand, they reuse waste materials
- On the other hand, they integrate the meanings of symbols from various cultural circles, now forgotten.
In Egyptian culture, Naophorus is a type of sculpture that represents the bearer of the gifts.
In Christian culture, the Western one, various explanations can be given to the gesture of the raised hands:
- the gesture of surrender
- the gesture of supplication
- the gesture of gratitude
- the gesture of praise
- But also the original gesture of the naophore himself, that of giving a gift, something precious.
In Ciro’s Naophorus one can glimpse the crucified Christ, who represents all these vital attitudes towards God the Father.
The body of the Naophorus (or Christ Crucified) is made of a piece of wood that was once part of a wine barrel. This piece of wood, therefore, in the past protected wine, a symbol of life.
The shell that is found in the place of the heart, and therefore at the centre of life, of the Naophorus (or Christ Crucified) in African culture was once treated as a coin, an object of particular beauty and strength.
Naophorus – bearer of the gifts.
Christ Crucified – the bearer of the preciousness of life.
