The Old Dog Thinks: You'll Loose Your Head Over This Sculpture!
For three months in 2002 twelve enormous bronze statues by the renowned Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj ( 1944-2014) graced the streets of Lugano. How happy we are that a local bank purchased one of them as a gift to the city and it continues to bring playful joy to residents and tourists alike! This sculpture is so big and tactile that it just beckons you to approach it and explore it. Even from the inside!
This huge sculpture invites you to draw close and examine it. I took some tourists to check it out a few weeks ago!
I think that I managed to get inside Eros's head! Maybe only this way will I understand why he is covered in bandages!
Tourists will be tourists and kids will be kids. My tourist friends had Lots of fun!
Eros Bendato
This somewhat eerie bandaged and severed head is called Eros Bendato which translates as Eros Bound. The sculpture depicts a fragment of an ancient monument to Eros, the Greek god of love and desire. There are different ideas as to the meaning behind the bandages that surround the statues eyes and mouth. Some explain that love is blind while others feel that desires and ideas have been imprisoned.
Eros Bendato Around The World
One of the really cool things about this piece of gigantic art is that variations of it can be found all over the world! here I present some of them:
Eros Bendato in Vancouver, Canada. Similar yet so different! Do you like all of the cracks? I do! Photo Credit
Eros Bendato Krakow, Poland. This one seems to be identical to the one that graces Lugano! Photo credit.
Eros Bendato St. Louis ,Missouri U.S.A. Photo credit.
Another one in Rome! Photo credit
Would You Like to See Other Sculptures by This Artist?
If you would like to explore more of the work of Igor Mitoraj here are 185 of his best works!
They are both weird and wonderful!
What do You Think of This Sculpture by Igor Mitoraj?
- Do you find it fascinating, beautiful or eerie?
- Would you like to climb inside of it?
- Would it make you lose your head?
I hope that you enjoyed this article about Eros Bendati by Igor Mitoraj!
Until next time,
@kus-knee (The Old Dog)
Great post!
I feel like I could write an entire dissertation strictly dedicated to this head, it is so inspiring... I surely would love to climb inside its head too, just like you did, and probably not alone either. ;)
Love offer both the blindness as long as we aren't yet aware of its different faces... On the long run, so to speak as time goes by, one realizes that with love comes pains for which one can't run away from. It is a law. At first, the young love believes blind-foldedly that it is all bright, shinning and easy, floating on cloud nine, how could one not believe so... But, through experiencing love, we sure loose our heads while unaware in the fires of our youth but we also may loose our head fully aware of the fact that love comes with the price of pains. Pains that we would rather endure than not experiencing love. As we say in French, "Ça vaut la peine!"Meaning that it is worth all the pains that one experiences in order to have this specific experience. It is in some ways a more radical version of the english saying "It is worth it!".
As you underlined, the weathered and cracked version appeals to me too, an awful lot! I'm kind of glad to know that it is found in my neighbourhood!
Thanks again for a golden opportunity to share and learn, namaste :)
Thanks so much for your comment! You out so much into them and I get so much out of them! I believe that your love, the one that you so eloquently detailed in your last post is in the bright shiny and easy stage! May it always be so.
You will surely enjoy seeing this fabulous piece the next time you venture to it. Only in Canada could Vancouver be described as in the neighbourhood of Vancouver Island!
Blessings to you @eric-boucher!
The love I have underlined would in deed fall under the bright light shiny diamond alright, but its polish varies on the angles light comes forth with and surely offers time for healthy challenges which strengthens us all. Thank you for the kind words again and yes, you are right, "Only in Canada could Vancouver be described as in the neighbourhood of Vancouver Island!".
I'm not sure I follow you on the second sentence though, there seems to be a word missing or something like my understanding?!? LOL!!!
Namaste :)
hmm you are right...
Haha this made me laugh. I didn't react at first until i zoomed in and saw your head in the eye of the sculpture. Some say the sky is blue because we live in the eyes of a blue eyed giant. I can't tell the color of the eyes but I think looking out from them would be cool.
I would also like to climb into this head. I love the fact that this sculpture is present all over the world in different countries. Could be a bucket list to travel to all of them and check the inside of their heads and compare which ones perspective you agree with the most.
Very nice funny post - I enjoyed it !
Great comment and I like your bucket list idea!
My pleasure :)
Amazing...I would definitely plan to see the one in Rome.... thanks for The great Info...
Maybe we could go together once!
get into Eros' head huh!
you haven't aged!
no I don't find it eerie
quite huge though - and seems to have given you guys FUN!
he has done a great job on that part !
Yes lots of fun and a piece that begs you to explore it. The surface also has a hatch work texture which I failed to show here!
shhhh.. we didn't notice :D
I already lost my head thinking about this crazy work of art.
Funny as always my friend!
Whaaaat! Knowing that the same well known sculputre in Lugano as some copies around the world is a great surprise! It's a sculpture that usally catch people of every age interest! I always liked it but I never looked for who made it! So thanks for this informations!
You know what? I didn't know that there were other similar sculptures either until I started writing the article! I love his work and I'd like to see his exhibit in Rome one day!
really cool art
i like it.
@kus-knee thanks
It really is!
It is looking like mummies,haha. Those ribbons rolled over their face.
Yes you are right!
Sorry, this immediately jumped in my head when I read your post.
And yes, I like the one in Vancouver better, the one with cracks. No, I don't know why, remember, "I don't want to use my head"
Classic! I watched that with my son 5,000 times!
Hello @kus-knee, much appreciations for the artist who made these sulpture, impressed from your this kind of unique article, keep it up,
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Thanks so much @rabeel!
That is some heady art!
hahaha good one!