Borderline Art Festival_2023

“After the eventful summer at the Santuario d'Oropa in 2022 - explains the artist Daniele Basso - I am sincerely moved and grateful for the invitation of the Borderline Arte Festival and the sponsors to exhibit at the Sacro Monte di Varallo. Time out... Time's up... the sculpture "Passion and Reason", in the timeless, reflective and spiritual dimension of the Sacro Monte, offers the opportunity to investigate the most intimate meaning of human action in relation to the divine, in the incessant search of the beyond that fills our soul… whispering immortality!”

Inspired by the universal beauty of Canova's sculpture Cupid and Psyche, reworked in a contemporary key, as well as the salvific value of the myth of Apuleius who reaches fulfillment from transgression through atonement, the work expresses the idea that the meaning of our actions is born from the encounter between the creative energy of Passion and the executive concreteness of Reason. It is proposed as a symbol of transformation as a supreme gesture of affirmation of life. An effort that restores joy and meaning, in pursuit of immortality!

A reflection that, placed in dialogue with the Sacro Monte di Varallo, through the divine, leads us to reflect and relativize emotions and actions, in the incessant search for the beyond that fills the human soul.

“Today, when we are increasingly focused on quantifying our lives through numbers, statistics and algorithms - continues Basso - the relationship with the elusiveness of the divine and the meaning of existence, I believe is of irreplaceable importance for redefining our inner dimension and our place in the world. Called to overcome increasingly challenging limits every day, the elusive takes us back to the right relative measure of existence, to contain expectations and frustrations, and rejoice in the infinite beauty of life".

The work of Daniele Basso, together with those of the artist Emanuele Giannelli, will remain on display in the Piazzale dei Tribunali until 31 October 2023.

Ph_Frozen Light / Riccardo Buccino