Sculptures and Compositions in essential and balanced forms Domenico Girbino
Domenico
Girbino, sculptor born in Bronte where he completed his studies. Catanese by
adoption, he is a teacher at the Artistic Lyceum of Catania and author of
wonderful works such as stained glass, bas-reliefs and sculptures that appear in
many squares and at the headquarters of numerous public and private
institutions.
Other works include the fountain of Piazza Europa in Catania, the monument to
the fallen in 1860 in Piazza San Vito inaugurated in Bronte on the occasion of
the "Bixio Process" held in
October 1985, the Via Crucis composed of 14 stations built along the staircase
leading from Taormina to the Sanctuary of the Rocca, the monumental Christ of
the Virgillito Church in Paternò and the bronze doors of the churches of
the Madonna della Catena, of
the Rosary and of
the Santuario dell'Annunziata, in Bronte.
For
the square of Cosentini (a fraction of the municipality of Santa Venerina),
Girbino has carved the monument to the fallen (bas-relief in bronze) and panels
depicting scenes of war.
The great season of Girbinian doors, begun in 1973, has not met stasis, indeed
in recent years it has appeared very lively for the happy results that the
artist has managed to achieve with surprising continuity.
We remember the doors (central and lateral) of the Cathedral of Taormina, that
of the mother church of Paceco, the doors made with bronze bas-reliefs of the
sanctuary of Sant'Alfio in Trecastagni (1974), the bronze portals of the
Sanctuary of San Sebastiano Martire Melilli, the bas-reliefs and stained glass
windows of the Parish of St. Francis de Sales in Palermo.
And also the monument to the peasants, near the Madonnuzza school in Mazzarino
and the door of the convent of the church Madonna del Carmelo (1977) and, last
in chronological order, the bronze doors to the church of San Gregorio di
Catania.
«... Every door is a bet with itself. It may seem rhetorical and it is not,
because of its gates Girbino is the artist who draws the sketch and the model
that shapes the forms, the building company that builds the framework and the
craftsman who assembles the entire work in person. .. »(M. D.)
Girbino's abstractionism does not create contrasts with the environments that
host his works that crystallize in essential and balanced forms.
The sculptures of Girbino, writes Gaetano Palumbo, reveal "a space that involves
the observer in an active dimension where the complexity of reality and
individual tension clarify each other and find a complete coherence."
In the photo on the right, the monument by Domenico Girbino in memory of the
five Brontians, presumed guilty of massacres and fires in
the events of Bronte
in 1860, shot by Nino Bixio.
It was erected by the Municipality of Bronte at the conclusion of a
Conference-trial on the events of 1860, which took place in October 1985, which
had a national resonance; It is placed at the foot of the staircase that leads
to the square of the Church of San Vito where, precisely on the morning of
August 10, 1860, the shooting of five unfortunate Bronte people took place.
Mimmo Girbino (left), lawyer Renato Radice
(son of historian Benedetto Radice)
with his son Benedetto (at rear) and (to the
right) professor Nunzio Sciavarrello,
pictured in 1973 on occasion of the
«Exhibition of the Bronte Artists of yesterday and today»,
held
in the Capizzi College.
In the photo above,
Mimmo Girbino, awarded in 1987 with the XXIV Casali for
sculpture "for having been able to express with his creative
art the deepest feelings of the soul".
The monument, Domenico Girbino work, built in Bronte in
memory of the five brontese presumed culprits of slaughters and fires during the
facts of
Bronte of 1860, who got shot by Nino Bixio.
It is placed below the steps leading to the square of the
San Vito church where, in the morning of August 10th, 1860
the shooting took place. It was built by the Council at the conclusion of a Convegno-processo on the facts of 1860, held in October of 1985. |