The eternal embrace

The bronze sculpture was donated to the City of Love by the artist who created it, the American Mark Kostabi.

Shying away from mere descriptive and anecdotal intentions, Kostabi did not want to represent but to signify: he eternalizes the essence of the embrace between two lovers. The protagonists of the sculptural group are not in fact two individuals characterized by precise anatomical-physiognomic details, they are the typical figures that distinguish the artist's stylistic signature. These figures are defined through elegant stylisation and formal synthesis, where the soft volumes and harmony of masses and curved lines are enhanced in the highly polished surfaces caressed by light. Influence from figurative suggestions drawn from the iconographic repertoire of past art and underground culture are at the origin of Mark Kostabi's research: for example, the reinterpretation of certain metaphysical outcomes revisited in a postmodern key, with clear pop accents. (Francesco Santaniello)