An exhibition for the love of animals. Elena Engelsen's sculptures at the Museum of Zoology in Rome.

Sculpted Animals at the Civic Museum of Zoology in Rome: from October 16, 2021 to January 16, 2022, the institute will in fact host the exhibition For the Love of Animals. The Love of Animals, a solo exhibition by Norwegian artist Elena Engelsen (Kapp, 1952), curated by Thomas Thiis-Evensen, and promoted by Roma Culture, Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, under the patronage of the Royal Embassy of Norway in Rome. It is organized by Untitled Association of Rome in collaboration with Galleri Brandstrup, Oslo, and sponsored by Ferd and Canica (Norway). Museum services by Zètema Progetto Cultura.

On display is a nucleus of 22 sculptures with which Engelsen guides the public to the discovery and knowledge of the animal world, looking at biodiversity and the need to rethink a respectful and harmonious coexistence with the environment. From the fragility of the polar bear to the frowning expression of the gorilla, from the elegance of the chameleon to the pangolin wrapped around itself, the Norwegian sculptor captures expressions and moods, giving the animals a vitality stopped in sculpture. Positioned around the perimeter of the Whale Room, the sculptures punctuate the pathway culminating in the three columns (two coclid columns that seem to pay homage to Rome, one that appears almost like a tribute to 20th-century modernist sculpture) topped by turtles, tapirs and antelopes to symbolically represent the sacredness of these species.

For The Love of Animals intends to express the love that binds Elena Engelsen to thenatural environment. Through reference to art-historical animalism, a current that originated from a group of French artists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a relevant increase thanks to artists such as Antoine-Louise Barye and Rembrandt Bugatti, Engelsen looks at the animal and natural world from a perspective that interprets its morphological and expressive peculiarities. Observing an animal from all angles, the sculptor denotes a deep knowledge of anatomy and attitudes. Employing a variety of materials, from marble to bronze, Engelsen expresses empathy for all animals, from the smallest, such as the snail and the earth pig, to vertebrates, some threatened with extinction across the planet. In a world in which biodiversity is greatly endangered by human actions and the devastating effects of climate change, Elena Engelsen wants to make a clear contribution to incentivize humans to take responsibility for the animal world and the planet they inhabit. Perhaps that is why she chose to show the Polar Bear on a base representing an ice cap and place it under the large whale skeleton that hangs from the ceiling of the Whale Room. The artist wants to raise awareness through the universality of art, proposing a journey for the public to take “for the love of animals.”

Elena Engelsen lives and works in Oslo. She studied at the Steenhouwerij Buitenfeldert (in collaboration with the Gerrit Rietveld Academy) in the Netherlands. During her time in Amsterdam she studied with Joop Boshardt, Cor Kennedy and Kees Andriessen. Returning to Norway in 1980, she began working with marble, employing this material as a medium to give sculpture a multiplicity of nuances, strong plastic value, and a fundamental expressive connotation. Engelsen’s sculptures have been acquired by major Norwegian Museums and Institutions, among others: the National Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Norwegian Art Council, and the Oslo City Council Art Collection. Her works are also exhibited in various public places, such as Amstelpark (Amsterdam), the University Hospital and Jernbanetorget (Oslo). The sculptor looks at the animal and natural world from a perspective that interprets its morphological and expressive peculiarities. Observing an animal from all angles, Engelsen denotes a deep knowledge of anatomy and attitudes: with her works, the artist questions the viewer about what it feels like to be in an animal’s shoes and what it feels like to be threatened by another species.

For more information, you can visit the Museum of Zoology’s website.

An exhibition for the love of animals. Elena Engelsen's sculptures at the Museum of Zoology in Rome.

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