Mostricciatoli

This project began in June 2003 at the Benedictine Monastery of Santa Ana en Camprena, Tuscany, Italy, constructed in the XV century, and is surrounded by forests and crop fields.

Mostricciatoli consists of sculptures that combine elements of different species, forming a swarm of airborne imaginary creatures. The title of this series means 'little monsters' because this is how Italians refer to badly-behaved children. The first of these small monsters were created with industrial objects and natural materials found around the monastery: rusty wire and metal tubing, dry leaves, seeds, feathers, porcupine quills, shells, old plastic bags, stones, branches, etc.

These sculptures acquired some characteristics of the mysterious and ancient monastery where they were made, and they echo the famous

tile ceiling in the Battistero di San Giovanni in Florence, Italy, which shows horrible beasts from hell made in the XIV century.

The series has grown over the years and now contains more than 100 Mostricciatoli, as more sculptures have been made over the years with materials found in the streets, zoos and parks of various places in Mexico, the USA, and England. The different variations of this installation have absorbed the characteristics of the various places where they have been made. Mostricciatoli has been exhibited at the following venues:

Centre for the Arts, Pienza, Tuscany, Italy, June 2003

Kocina Gallery, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, August 2003

Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California, USA, January 2004

PhotoFringe, University of Sussex Library, Falmer, UK, October-Novemeber 2008

In all these exhibition the sculptures have been suspended from the ceiling with fishing line, so that they look as if the swarm of beasts were frozen in time.