Personal experiences, suppressed thoughts and undefined desires bundled in the ceramic Dream Theater of the English artist Martino Catalano. His sculptures are captured fragments of our deepest passions, our dreams and nightmares. This inner world is combined, in a rather spontaneous way, with all kinds of references from every day life, like human behavior, sexuality and cultural icons from past and present.
Although his work seems quite accessible at first, it does have multiple layers of partially hidden symbols, revealing their secrets slowly, engaging the viewer to explore his sculptures, and search for answers. The symbolic complexity, combined with Catalano’s artistic virtuosity, is making his art, not only a feast for the eyes, but also for the mind.
My personal favorite is the double-headed Sphinx called ‘Khimji’, a strange mixture of Hindu and Egyptian symbolism, an erotic creature lying on white sheets, painted with small nifty flowers. I will not even try to bring up some explanation, or write an interpretation, somehow I will always be right or wrong, but I like to think of her as the guardian of my next dream, being around for ages, like a Sphinx is entitled to do.
The Dream Theater continues on the Lazarus Corporation website
