The Besieged

Early on Mimmo Paladino became affiliated with the so-called transavantgarde, a group of artists led by the Italian critic Achille Bonito Oliva. According to Oliva, a return to painting had taken place, with artists displaying an attitude that both transcended and concluded the earlier avant-garde movements. The artists were no longer interested in continually transgressing boundaries. In an attempt to give art its magical function back, they sought inspiration in the myths, symbols, and legends of yore.

In order to understand Paladino’s art, we must return both to the region where he grew up and to the myths and symbols of ages long past. The city of Benevento in southern Italy was a Roman colony at a time when many still worshipped the Egyptian gods, and it was also there that the first communities of Christians established themselves. This was the backdrop for Paladino’s quest to find his own cultural heritage. The figures in Paladino’s sculptures often seem to be messengers from another world, like shamans. As materialized in the sculptures along with various masks and animals, the figures all become participants in our world. Though perhaps not quite participants – even though they encounter us physically, as here, Paladino’s figures do not act. Rather, they are contemplative, lost in their own world. L’assediato depicts a man surrounded by three animals: two that face him with trust and devotion, while the third one stands guard. The man seems almost like a shepherd, and there is such a close relationship between man and animal that it could almost be interpreted as an identification. Perhaps Paladino wants to lead us back to our pastoral existence before the Fall, when humanity was one with nature.