GIORGIO CRISAFI

In Bonds XX, Crisafi compresses the vertical syntax of the Bonds [Legami] series into a more compact, grounded configuration. While the figure retains the segmented structure of head, torso, and lower body, its reduced height produces a sense of density rather than ascent. The mottled yellow and deep green glaze settles into the surface with a heavier, more absorbed presence, allowing the form to read as inwardly held rather than thrust upward. The figure stands not as a declaration, but as a contained accumulation of parts and tensions.

The absence of luster shifts attention toward material continuity and sculptural mass. Crisafi’s handling of glaze recalls postwar ceramic practices in which surface becomes inseparable from structure, echoing the earthy physicality found in the work of artists such as Leoncillo and, more broadly, in Arte Informale’s engagement with matter and resistance. Here, color no longer ruptures the surface but thickens it, binding the segments into a single visual field marked by weight and compression rather than rupture.

Within the Bonds series, Bonds XX proposes connection as containment. The ties between elements operate less as points of stress and more as internal anchors, holding the figure together through proximity and density. The work suggests that bonds need not always strain or fracture; they may also consolidate, gathering the body inward. In this way, Crisafi introduces a quieter but no less charged articulation of connection—one rooted in gravity, cohesion, and material resolve.