Simulacra

Rossella Vasta
Italy 1995

Every little treasure has a message inside…..

SIMULACRA is the title I have chosen for my work in aluminum realized using the original box as a model for the casting. I engraved the cover of the box (previously covered with terra-cotta) with stylized signs, although the meaning of this work is not to be understood in these signs.

SIMULACRA (in the Latin larger sense means: copy, effigy, sculpture…) plays a role of criticism to the idea of original (represented by the original wooden box I received) and “copy” (in the way the original one is cast).

You may ask yourself which one has to be considered the original between the two: the two boxes having to be exhibited always together!

I play too with the idea of container and content implicit in the fact that the object is a box.

Finally the title SIMULACRA allows you to think about the platonic concept of mimesis (Art as imitation, in a larger sense), this is not to provide a solution but to push the viewer to think about these matters.