«Helmet and rifle are on the ground, it’s a peace project»

PADUA – «In this statue the rifle is on the ground. There is no war intent». The artist who created it tells it and the Alpine troops who commissioned it reiterate it. And if the sculptor limits himself to describing the work, the association of black feathers goes into detail: «The controversy that has exploded surprises us, the message that this monument wants to send has not been understood». A clear stance to try to quell a fuss.

THE ARTIST

He found himself in the limelight despite himself Hector Greco, the Paduan sculptor chosen for the creation of the monument to the Alpine soldier who is shaking up the Giordani junta so much, putting the pacifist associations and the centre-right parties on opposite sides. Contacted by the Gazzettino, Greco chooses reassuring words on the message launched by the work: «It was a commissioned work, with celebratory and not warlike intentions and, clearly, without ties to any political color. It wants to remember the 100 years of the National Alpine Association of Padua.”
Even the initial idea for the monument seems to be far from today’s winds of war. «The project was born a couple of years ago and portrays an Alpine soldier from the First World War, dressed in period clothing, taken from models exhibited in national museums. It is inspired by and portrays a youth that no longer exists and which, due to the war, has never existed.”
The internationally renowned sculptor, hit by controversy in Venice where he is collaborating on an exchange with the Institute de France and the Academie des Beaux Arts thanks to a project by the Pierre Cardin maison, then talks about his work: «The protagonist deposits the weapon, places the helmet on the ground, puts on the Alpine hat and looks towards the horizon. I prefer not to give advance information on the different messages that the work sends out, but, as you will be able to appreciate, it will in no way be animated by hostile intentions.”

THE PROPOSAL

Feminist movements have long called for one statue of a woman in Prato della Valle while the pacifist associations ask the Municipality for a monument dedicated to Gandhi. «Compared to what I read about the other possible sculptures proposed for the city – comments Greco -, it would be a really nice idea for that park to become a place chosen to host the works of several artists, in the manner of other international sculpture parks that have arisen in different European cities”.

BLACK FEATHERS

Nereo Tiso, the PD councilor who as an Alpine member followed the process for the statue with the mayor, prefers not to make statements. Speak instead Carlo Casellato, the president of the Padua section of the ANA which also includes Rovigo and has three thousand members. «We have been talking about this statue with the Municipality of Padua for some time and we have always been in perfect agreement with the mayor. The artist asked us for documentation on the Alpine troops of the First World War and we provided it to him. I highlight that the Alpine soldier portrayed is not in an attack situation as perhaps seen in the monuments of past decades. The rifle is on the ground and he is looking into the distance. Since the Tito Livio Park, I like to think that that Alpine soldier will look at the Scrovegni Chapel, a symbol of beauty and peace.” But from when? «We agreed with the Municipality for May 25th. Now we wait.”

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