The ceramics of Carlo Zoli, Faenza artist between Quiet and Storm

Quiet and Storm are the two souls of Carlo Zoli, an artist from Faenza born in 1959 and son of art, who has lived a life for sculpture. He has been modeling clay for almost fifty years and during his career has exhibited his works in solo and group exhibitions in galleries, art fairs, sculpture biennials, and museums in Italy and around the world. On his brand new website carlozoli.com he now narrates his poetics through evocative video stories and very high quality images present in a gallery the works he has created from the 1990s to the present. A video of the Storm Series can be seen at this link .

A hundred of his works have been transported in bronze, but in recent years the artist has decided to devote himself solely to ceramics: one-of-a-kind pieces with bronze-colored patinas and enamel and pure gold inserts. In his studio in the heart of Faenza, the cradle of ceramic art, he molds clay and brings out daring figures capable of generating a great expressive and narrative effect: a world of archetypes, dreams and utopias, part of the collective imagination whose roots lie in the mysterious territories of the primitive and archaic. Through the adventures and passions of gods and heroes, Zoli tells our story, our origins.

His protagonists materialize in a mixture of history, mythology and legend. He draws from Ariosto and Cervantes, from the classics Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Lucretius, Virgil, but also from Nordic myths and Christian traditions. On the one hand, action and battle figures such as Ulysses, Theseus and the Minotaur, St. George and the dragon; on the other hand, characters who instill serenity by inspiring beauty, love, and motherhood. Enchanting figures, graceful and pure, such as Orpheus and Eurydice, Cupid and Psyche, Aphrodite, but also a placid Don Quixote.

Carlo Zoli. Photo by Camilla Valli

Carlo Zoli, Storm Series “Soldiers in the Wind” (1995; polychrome terracotta and metal, 31.5 x 35.5 x 41.5)

Carlo Zoli, Quiet Love Series (2019; Ceramic Polychrome terracotta, Metal, Yellow Gold Third Fire, White Gold Third Fire, 31 x 33 x 6 cm)

Carlo Zoli, Storm Series Flying Perseus and the Pegasus (1995; polychrome terracotta, metal, 31 Ã? 35.5 Ã? 61.5 cm)

The ceramics of Carlo Zoli, Faenza artist between Quiet and Storm

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