Daniele Cabri’s artistic practice draws its primary creative force from a deep, almost visceral attachment to his origins — the hamlet of Rocchetta, near Guiglia (Modena), his Heimat. His inner sensibility resonates with that of Antonio Ligabue, whom he encountered at a young age through the television portrayal by Flavio Bucci.

Central to Cabri’s work is a constant return to Rocchetta and to childhood — or rather Childhood — understood as an uncorrupted state toward which his artistic research continually aspires. Memory is the foundation of his entire practice.

Working on animal skins, Cabri’s art becomes a painful yet necessary act of preservation: an attempt to rescue from oblivion the people, animals and objects of his native village. As José Saramago wrote in The Lanzarote Diaries: “Memory is a clay statue. The wind passes and gradually removes particles… minute after minute, what was is no more — unless we continuously restore memory through memory itself.”

The exhibition presents over 70 works created using pyrography and blowtorch on animal skins. As Maria Chiara Wang writes in the critical text:

“[…] the exhibition unfolds as an initiatory journey, leading the viewer toward a higher purpose through obstacles and moments of introspection.

Ad lunam is a momentum, a tension, an intention — both a direction and a destination.

It is also the narrative of a journey: from the bustling life of a village, depicted in the cycle Quando eravamo amabili selvaggi…, through a renewed connection with the Earth and the self within the Latebra, culminating in a celestial ascent with the installation La Giostra delle Lune.

Ad lunam is imbued with an esoteric aura: like a shaman, Daniele Cabri entrusts his art with a therapeutic and transformative power, influenced by the theories of Alejandro Jodorowsky and his practice of psychomagic acts.”

Il Resto del Carlino – Bologna 15 ottobre 2021
Corriere della Sera – Bologna 15 ottobre 2021

Daniele Cabri
Ad lunam
Curated by Elisabetta Roncati and Maria Chiara Wang

15 October > 20 November 2021

GALLERIA STUDIO CENACCHI
Via Santo Stefano 63
40125 Bologna

OPENING HOURS
Tuesday–Saturday: 4.30–7.30 pm
Monday: by appointment
Sunday: closed