Scossole

Luigi Mainolfi, 2007 (© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026)
  • Read along

    The title combines the Italian words scosso and sole.

    At the Palio di Siena, ‘scosso’ is the name given to a horse that has thrown its rider and gallops on alone. I am inspired by its reclaimed autonomy and headlong impetuousness … I tried to connect ‘scosso’ with ‘sole’, sun, in both form and content.

    The horse tries to become the sun: it is ablaze, its limbs turn into rays that radiate from and through the whole body. The sun turns horse; the horse turns sun. Perhaps another creature that develops a life and light of its own, to ascend the heavens and join the many stars and planets that embody or represent other animals, symbols and meanings.

    Luigi Mainolfi
  • Location