Bellum se ipsum alet
26/05/2021
parallax background

Non omnis moriar (1997 - in corso)

One of the happiest solutions of three-dimensional large-sized works, as well as a profound reflection on the dual theme of toy and war, is Non omnis moriar, an installation composed of full-scale toy soldiers made by assembling paper mache, cardboard and painting oil and whose head consists of bulbs for outdoor lighting. It is a large-scale version of the so-called Teste biglia, a series of toy soldiers whose head has been replaced by a marble. The title of the work refers to the passage from Horace's Odes and is generally translated as "I will not die at all", in fact, in the composition we see four soldiers pointing their weapons towards a fifth soldier lying on the ground, whose light emanates from the its bulb is dimmer but not completely off. The artist has created two large-scale versions of this work: one at the Tortolì museum (province of Nuoro) "Su logu de s'iscultura" in 1998 and one for the VAF foundation in 1997, preserved by the Mart of Trento and Rovereto.

non-omnis-moriar-01
Non omnis moriar, plastic soldiers and garden lamps, h cm 185 each, 1997, Courtesy G. Croppi.