In the heart of Chianti, Tuscany, art is once again intertwined with myth. In fact, at the “Alle Origini del Chianti” Museum in Gaiole (Siena), the exhibition Chimere contemporanee by Silvano Porcinai, a Tuscan sculptor known for his works inspired by Etruscan art, is scheduled from July 19 to Nov. 2, 2025. The exhibition, which is part of the calendar of the “Etruscan Project 85/25” promoted by the Region of Tuscany and the Fondazione Musei Senesi, with the support of numerous public and private institutions, represents a journey into the Etruscan imagination filtered through the gaze of the contemporary artist. Curated by Marco Firmati, Francesca Petrucci and Cristina Sanna, the exhibition features a cycle of works inspired by the legendary Chimera of Arezzo, a masterpiece of Etruscan sculpture found in 1553 and now preserved at the National Archaeological Museum in Florence.
Silvano Porcinai, who was born in Grassina and trained at the Art Institute of Florence in the Goldsmithing section, has been able over the years to develop a poetics capable of combining the ancient plastic heritage with a contemporary language. His Chimeras are not mere reworkings of a famous iconographic model, but interpretations that reveal a link between myth and the anxieties of our time. Some of the sculptures replace the animal protomes typical of the Etruscan figure with human, female, and provocative faces, deliberately disturbing caricatures that embody collective fears and moral seductions of the present.
The result is a set of harmonious and dynamic works, constructed in a dry and direct style, capable of evoking at the same time the archaic power of mythology and the anxieties of contemporaneity. In the new Chimeras, the ancient monster is transformed into a metaphor for modern deviations and bewilderments, offering the viewer an experience that goes beyond aesthetic contemplation and opens to critical reflection. The hybrid and disturbing figures recall the “inner monsters” that everyone carries, but also the collective problems that mark our age: from ethical drifts to social conflicts, from personal frailties to environmental crises.
The choice of materials is not random. Porcinai prefers terracotta and bronze, in a direct dialogue with the Etruscan and Renaissance traditions that have left deep traces in Tuscany. The working of the surfaces reveals a refined knowledge of ancient techniques, but also a willingness to leave the material open to new interpretations. It is a plastic language that does not merely reproduce, but revives the very meaning of sculpture as a search for meaning.
Since 1977 the artist has exhibited in Italy and abroad, from Paris to Geneva, from Rome to Venice, taking part in symposia and sculpture awards such as the National Symposium of Impruneta, which he won in 2005. His public works can be found in numerous cities: from the Gino Bartali Monument in Florence to the Pinocchio in the Giardino dell’Orticoltura, to the Lavandaia that stands in the central square of Grassina. He is Full Professor of the Sculpture Class at the Academy of the Arts of Drawing and has been making the annual “Emoción” award for the Italian Taurino Club for more than 20 years.
The exhibition project is part of a larger context: “Etruscan Project 85/25,” which was created to celebrate and rediscover, eighty-five years after its founding and twenty-five years after its renewal, the activities of the Fondazione Musei Senesi in promoting the Etruscan heritage. The Region of Tuscany, the Province of Siena, the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation, Opera Laboratori and the Municipality of Gaiole in Chianti contributed to the realization of the exhibition.
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| Silvano Porcinai's Contemporary Chimeras on display in the heart of Chianti |
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