Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery proudly presents Memento, an exhibition showcasing over 40 works by Italian sculptor Matteo Pugliese. Featuring his signature series “Extra Moenia,” “Guardians,” and “Beetles”, as well as his latest creations “Pachamama” and “Broken”, the exhibition offers a fascinating glimpse into two decades of Pugliese’s artistic evolution.
Born in 1969, Matteo Pugliese is a prominent contemporary sculptor who has earned wide popularity in Europe during the last decade. A self-taught artist with a Modern Literature degree from the University of Milan, Pugliese has since 2001 dedicated himself to sculpture creation, by now he has had over thirty solo exhibitions in Italy and abroad.
Pugliese’s figurative sculptures masterfully synthesize classical realism, contemporary sensibilities and revolutionary concepts. He keeps exploring new frontiers of contemporary sculpture through his unique language, combining classic materials like bronze and marble with modern elements, merging anatomical precision with expressive dynamism, and bridging personal emotions with universal values.
Pugliese's works are imbued with emotional authenticity. Bearing the imprint of life from his hand, his works capture intense psychological dimensions that invoke our shared experience, inviting viewers to face their own fears, desires, joy and beliefs.
Extra Moenia: Warrior of Freedom
For over two decades, my ‘Extra Moenia’ sculptures have fought a lonely battle against walls, striving for a new reality.
—Matteo Pugliese
In Pugliese’s celebrated “Extra Moenia” series, human faces and limbs are caged in silent and ruthless walls, the deep wrinkles around the closed eyes are murmuring of pains buried at the bottom of soul, each tightly stretched tissue reveals a kind of innate uncompromising determination to fight for freedom. In over twenty years, this series discovers numerous facades of our struggle against the endless constraints in which we are all trapped.
All figures that are fighting against the prison walls have classical heroic facial features, masculine and yet fascinatingly beautiful. The fleeting moments of an everlasting war are engraved on the delicate boundary between existence and nothingness.
These figures, rooted in the sculptural tradition since Michelangelo, are anatomically precise and full of vitality and movement. The complex, layered texture of bronze, created by multiple patinas and the imprints from the artist’s hand, stands as a haunting mementos of endurance and free will.
Pugliese’s two latest creations are unveiled in this exhibition, representing a pivotal breakthrough in his “Extra Moenia” series.
A Matter of Trust is inspired by a childhood game where one person falls backward, relying on another person behind him to catch him. For the first time Pugliese’s human figure liberates itself from the constraints of walls, surrendering to fate and the unknown with faith.
In Broken, Pugliese breaks down his beloved figures into fractures. This act of destruction, reminiscent of experiences of personal wounds, and also the restoration of ancient Greek and Roman statues, symbolizes the necessary death before renewal - a memento of rebirth.
Guardians: Silent Protectors
…
We will end up in different homes,
some of us will perhaps
cross the sea and end up in places
that nobody could ever imagine.
We will be a dispersed army,
united by the people who have chosen us,
who will have been chosen by us.
Listen to our silence.
I am here, I protect you.
— Excerpt from The Guardians by Matteo Pugliese
Pugliese’s “Guardians” stand in stark, exuding an aura of serenity and inner strength. With their full bellies, exaggerated feet, and armored with unraised weapons, these figures embody resilience and fortitude.
Since the 1990s, Pugliese has drawn inspiration from a diverse array of cultures and spiritual traditions, including Tibetan, Mayan, Egyptian, Japanese, American, and African. By incorporating totemic protector figures from these civilizations, he taps into universal human desires for spiritual protection and the safeguarding of home.
Adorned with intricate details such as chainmail armor, straps, coins, and screws, the Guardians act as spiritual protectors, reviving the essence of diverse cultures amidst globalization.
These figures are made of clay, bronze or ceramic, even marble. The nearly meter-tall Samurai Guardian (VIII), for instance, is carved from white-veined Paonazzo marble, a challenging material favoured in ancient European architecture and Renaissance sculpture for its associations with power, wealth, and devotion.
Created in 2023, the debut “Pachamama” series is named after the spirit of “Mother Earth” which was honored by the indigenous tribes of the Andean highlands in South America, and was regarded as the source of the nurturing essence of nature. Departing from his familiarity with bronze, Pugliese ventured to Val Gardena, a region renowned for its wood carving tradition dating back to the 17th century, to create sculptures in walnut wood for the first time. This work reflects the artist's deep contemplation on the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.
Beetles: Keeper of Joy
…After so many years, I went back to playing with beetles. Perhaps it’s to reconnect with that suspended time, or to resume that interrupted game and recover that distant spirit. Or maybe, dear beetles, it's just a tentative plea for indulgence…
—Matteo Pugliese
Created since 2011, the “Beetles” series preserves Pugliese’s gratitude for his memorable childhood within jewel-toned ceramic shells commemorating life’s fleeting yet precious moments of transformation and growth, as well as a reminder of our origins.
Pugliese revisits the summers of his childhood in Sardinia, where he and his cousin painted vibrant patterns on beetle shells, causing confusion among amateur bug enthusiasts who thought they had found rare specimens. These tender memories now fuel his artistic energy, turning ordinary moments into precious gems.
Sculpted by Pugliese from bronze and ceramic with bright and tactile finishes, each Beetle contains a whimsical souvenir from his youth, such as thumb-sized figurines of Darth Vader and a Queen Elizabeth II stamp. He playfully names these sculptures by modifying old Latin binomial naming conventions for species.
In addition to the standard processes of shaping and glazing, an age-old “third firing” method imparts metallic shades to the shell, producing an effect akin to a celestial tapestry.
In Memento, we witness the enlightening discoveries from Matteo Pugliese’s soul voyage, exploring themes of vulnerability and resilience, individuality and ancestry, faith and rebirth. Perhaps the tension in the “Extra Moenia” series may find purification through the steadfast determination of the “Guardians” and the powerful remembrance invoked by the “Beetles,” ultimately achieving a sense of self-reconciliation. Pugliese’s sculptures manifest as intimate visual mementos - at once universal and personal, ancient and renewed.
