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There’s an opinion that genius is the reverse side of insanity. Only a madman cannot express his unique perception of the world through canvases, music, films or sculptures as the hero of our interview does.

Alessandro Boezio, an Italian artist from Milan, akin to a mad scientist, experiments on the human body. He creates a new anatomy based on the bizarre multiplication of human limbs and mutations.

“Everything can be transformed, everything can be re-used, everything is re-adaptable” becomes the guiding principle of his craft. His grotesque creations often reflect the deformation of modern society and its inherent absurdities. Boezio’s mutant laboratory may seem like sheer madness, but I see it as a brillliant play between real and fiction.

Alessandro, could you share a bit about your background and how it has shaped your artistic journey?

My didactic training took place according to the canonical scholastic training paths, therefore first an artistic high school and then an academy of fine arts, but the actual training was developed by frequenting the places where it was made manually, the so-called artisanal manufacturing Italian art.

In Italy we still have places called “Botteghe”, they are laboratories where unique artistic artefacts are created, entirely handmade. They are magical, unconventional places where everything made is different from one another. I worked in a theater tailor’s shop, in a cabinet making workshop, a paper mache religious sculpture workshop, a theatrical and advertising scenography workshop, a ceramic workshop… These experiences increased my initial knowledge and freed me both manually and mentally from creative constraints.

Looking at your sculptures you give the impression of a mad scientist experimenting on the human body. How did the idea of transforming human limbs come about?

A mad scientist does not give birth to ideas but researches and puts together the most unlikely elements in order to arrive at a solution.

I do the same thing in my works with the human body, enlarging, shrinking, multiplying, grafting human limbs with parts of the body, eliminating what I consider superfluous about the body in order to communicate my message.

From the beginning, the most understandable universal language for communicating between men has been the gestural language of the body and hands. A simple language that has fallen into disuse but is still understandable to everyone

Could you share the symbolism or themes that often appear in your surreal sculptures?

Introspection and extrospective of today’s world.

Share with us how the process of creating a sculpture goes from idea to realisation? What materials do you use to bring these sculptures to life?

All the sculptures I create are born from personal reflections, arising mainly from the observation of the environments that surround me and that I have frequented such as natural, city or metropolitan environments.

I don’t want to speak to the world and describe what I see from my point of view but I simply want to show the weaknesses of today’s man and how we will become as we evolve.

From thought I move on to converting ideas and visions into drawings that I carefully preserve, after which I often translate the drawn idea into plastic sketches in clay which in turn can become ceramic pieces.

Although I prefer ceramics and conventional sculpture materials (such as marble), I do not disdain working with the most disparate materials such as resins self-produced in the laboratory, optical fibers, metal cables, etc. Sculpture, like painting, must not be made up solely of classical materials to be such but must also be made up of materials that characterize our time.

Do you have a favorite piece among your anatomical mutants? And what makes it special to you?

What answer could a mother give if asked who her most successful child is?Hand standing is certainly the work that best represents my work.

What message or emotions do you hope to convey through your works?

My works often consist of complex anatomical aggregations that leave doubts and perplexities about what they are doing and into what forms they are evolving. They appear cryptic, impenetrable, resistant both to the spectator and to the outside world. They seem to try to shelter themselves from all foreign interference and threats but in truth they elaborate the future idea of metamorphosis seen as the last possible change, when it is now impossible to escape from any other condition, to free oneself. This is almost always the message that is received.

Can you share any memorable reactions or feedback you've received from audiences regarding your sculptures?

Almost always the very first impact with my sculptures elicits the term “creepy”, this is the. Feedback that is almost always returned to me and I am pleased because arousing anxiety is equivalent to moving the observer for a moment from his solid certainties.

You quote the Bhagavad Gita, you create sculptures with references to the goddess Kali, a series of works called "Meditation and Levitation", so I can assume that Indian philosophy is close to you. What ideas do you find attractive?

From Indian philosophy I love the concept it has of the human body, where birth and death are two points that belong to a continuity, going beyond the materiality of the body.

Indian philosophy really aims to overcome our need to associate ourselves with our body, with our lifespan, with our perfect health.

Therefore the body understood as the wrapping of the Self, the wrapping of one’s soul. Soul that can remain in the body but also levitate and be elsewhere as happens when we dream. These concepts are inspiration for my latest works.

Are there any particular artists who have influenced your work?

I was lucky enough to be born in Italy and to be able to observe the greatest artists in history from an early age, it was enough to enter a church and observe. In my eyes I carry those images as a reference to the word artist. For the rest there are artists of all times who I admire because they have disoriented the rules of sculpture and painting, all different from each other such as Hieronimus Bosch, David Altmejd, Ron Mueck, Medardo Rosso , Antony Gormley, Tony Cragg, Magritte, nothing is by chance.

What does art mean to you and what do you think its role is in modern society?

Many words can be used to define the concept of art and they would never be enough. I see art as creating something that wasn’t there before which in creating it makes us feel closer to God.

The role of art in modern society remains the same as always, of communicating, of revealing itself to those who know how to grasp it.

Do you have any upcoming projects you'd like to share with us?

There are new sculptures being completed… I never work on a single piece but on multiple sculptures at the same time, this time addressing themes related to the detachment of the physical body. Many ask me to show my works in America but for sculpture it is not that simple, adequate spaces and concrete proposals would be needed.

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Alessandro, could you share a bit about your background and how it has shaped your artistic journey?

Looking at your sculptures you give the impression of a mad scientist experimenting on the human body. How did the idea of transforming human limbs come about?

Could you share the symbolism or themes that often appear in your surreal sculptures?

Share with us how the process of creating a sculpture goes from idea to realisation? What materials do you use to bring these sculptures to life?

Do you have a favorite piece among your anatomical mutants? And what makes it special to you?

What message or emotions do you hope to convey through your works?

Can you share any memorable reactions or feedback you've received from audiences regarding your sculptures?

You quote the Bhagavad Gita, you create sculptures with references to the goddess Kali, a series of works called "Meditation and Levitation", so I can assume that Indian philosophy is close to you. What ideas do you find attractive?

Are there any particular artists who have influenced your work?

What does art mean to you and what do you think its role is in modern society?

Do you have any upcoming projects you'd like to share with us?

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