Irony and Melancholy

Around the 1950s, Roberto Barni (1939) began painting. He created his first abstract paintings at the end of the decade using a variety of mediums, including iron, wood, photographs, and newspaper. Later in life, he focused increasingly more on sculpting. By tackling and resolving the issues inherent in three-dimensional figuration in his unique way, Barni brought new life to the legacy embodied by the Italian sculptural tradition. In his human figure-centered artwork, man forfeits the right to individuality in favor of an anonymous portrayal that is yet always in motion and change and more in line with the contemporary human being. By selecting bronze casting, the artist is able to move away from the marble's rigidity and static nature and toward the fluidity of forms and meanings. Just like current life seems to Barni's eyes: the vertigo of existence, his figures appear to be many clones, or doubles, in perpetually dangerous, unstable situations.