Bruno Romanelli cast his own head in glass by lost wax casting, a well-known technique in glass and metal working, whose origins can be traced back to antiquity. It’s thought that the oldest known lost wax cast object, an amulet created by a society in the Indus Valley, is over 6,000 years old.
Boxed X, made in 2001, is one of a series of works through which Bruno explores “ideas of masculinity, identity, sexuality and perception”. The works in this series have found their way into various collections, exploring “the male form, with tender curiosity” as the Victoria & Albert Museum says of the piece from the series it acquired. Boxed X was kindly donated to Crafts Council Collection from the Contemporary Decorative Arts Exhibition, Sotheby's London.
With tiny air bubbles and ethereal wafts of mist or smoke sitting in suspended animation inside the glass and around the head cast, this piece feels like it could be a looted artefact from a futuristic mausoleum, a priceless death mask that found its way onto eBay through the dark web. It is intriguing to wonder how it felt for the artist to take a lost wax cast of their own head, and then for him to look upon the finished piece and see his own face within the glass. Among Bruno’s commissioned work, he produced the annual ‘Rising Star’ glass trophy for the BAFTA television awards.
Dafydd: “It’s so visually striking. The effect of the glass around the head makes it look like surrounded by water or smoke. I’m also interested in the lost wax method of sculpting. It’s an ancient process used for many different materials - and this is the first glass object I’ve seen made using this method.”
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