Roberto Visani: Reap the Wild Wind

April 18 - May 18, 2024

Reap the Wild Wind
A solo exhibition of works by sculptor Roberto Visani
TW Fine Art is pleased to present Reap The Wild Wind, an exhibition featuring the work of Roberto Visani on view from April 18th to May 18th. Visani's sculptures reference the African diaspora and transatlantic artifacts and archives as a form of comparative history. Within the body of work titled Primary Structures, the artist reconsiders stylized indigenous representations of the human form, specifically West African figurative sculpture and its relationship to modernism and 3D modeling. Through a combination of analog and digital methods, these works reorient misplaced ideas of primitivism through a metamorphosis, translating code into cardboard and cast metal and adding layers of meaning throughout the process. The sculptures, cast in iron, bronze, and aluminum, suggest an enduring legacy of cultural expression while employing digital fabrication as a generative tool. This juxtaposition of traditional and technology explores the anonymity that our digital world engenders and how identity interfaces with it.
hands up

Hands Up is a series of sculptures investigating the universal gesture of upraised arms. As stated by Visani: "I began thinking of this pose after visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During the visit, I encountered a figurative sculpture by an unknown Dogon artist from Mali. These sculptures are associated with connecting the earth to the heavens. I was reminded of instances in which people expressed themselves with upraised arms - the protests that took place in Ferguson, Missouri, after Michael Brown was shot and killed. I began making other associations – gospel music and the Black church, a conductor preparing an orchestra, the dancers in Ernie Barnes' painting The Sugar Shack, and police encounters when suspects are ordered to put their hands in the air.”
- Roberto Visani, up and up and up (dance, dance, dance), 2023
- Roberto Visani, three standing verts, 2024
helmet masks

Visani's Helmet Masks conflate mask imagery from numerous sources, beginning with comparisons of the visual forms of Dogon helmet masks and KKK hoods. While considering other masking traditions, the works attempt to reconcile the contrast of meanings and center the sculptures as a form of spiritual inheritance, incorporating symbols of empowerment, kinship, and authority.