The “Golden Cages”, are the laces and mental constraints that block and limit us in our relations with others for fear of being hurt. The different fears create defenses object of interpretation, in this new cycle of works, by the artist Micaela Legnaioli. As in a trip deeper and deeper, within the self, the artist Legnaioli, endowed with a great sensitivity and a very high artistic level, analyzes our fears and defensive cages, in their visual aspect with very refined results.
The Golden Cages are nothing more than ephemeral defences that give a semblance of protection, but soon turn into constricting cages that suffocate the individual, restrict his expressive freedom and be able to love and be loved; there are ways out that can be undertaken to get rid of these constraints. The artist proposes a visual-subjective reading after an in-depth psychological reflection on these themes.
His sculptures have a double reading: on a first reading, one appreciates the cage-casing that imprisons and which is painted with different and precious metallic colours; on a subsequent reading, the object of attention is the inner casing, which is white and shiny, thus indicating its undoubted “purity”. At the centre of this envelope, like a precious jewel, there is a rougher and always different object in each sculpture: it is our ego that is the truest and most intimate. There are ways out for our fears, those that are our cages can only be opened by those who feel similar and show us empathy, love and affection. Legnaioli’s sculptures are created using plaster, acrylic colour, resin and gilding varnish.
In this series there is a visual connection with the series of works engraved and on metal that shows the traces of the experiences that have occurred in the lives of women and men who have left their mark on metals in the world, and you can think of a sort of continuation in the poetics of “Leaves in the wind” that is, the awareness of the random and involuntary fact of being physically in one place rather than another and having people/leaves beside them rather than others, is a look at fate and chance to investigate the existential path of each one.
Sabrina Consolini
