“Now I really want to see what happens.” The voice of is excited Andrea Mastrovitowhile talking on the phone in one of the rare pauses in these spasmodic weeks: from his studio in Bergamo he is finalizing the last delicate steps of an undertaking that is much more than a simple work of art.
Mastrovito, 48 years old, who returned home to the Orobic city for a few years but has long been active in New York, a capable and versatile artist, a man of faith who is by no means banal, is the Italian called upon to complete the Tower of Jesus, the highest spire of the legendary Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, with a sculpture dedicated to the Agnus Dei Antoni Gaudi.
And if certainly, more than a year ago, the decision of the Junta Constructora (the body responsible for the management, financing and construction of the basilica) to entrust him with such an important task after an international competition surprised him, today he explains that this work is proving to be different from all the previous ones. “It is also a profoundly spiritual experience,” he assures. «He taught me calm and a different dimension of doing and thinking. I have a hard head, here I learned to become malleable, to trust.”
The reference is to the many technical and artisan workers who contributed to the creation of the work, but also to those who, directly or indirectly, were a source of inspiration. Mastrovito speaks to Credere about his faith in a heartfelt and spontaneous way, as he does with his other “life passions”: Atalanta and Metallica. In an art world that often feeds on poses and forms, he has always followed the path of authenticity and substance.
He defends himself: «This project happened by chance». Mastrovito thus conceived a Lamb of God which is a masterpiece of precision, symbolism and faith, which in April will be positioned at the highest point of the Sagrada Familia, 172 meters high, ready for the official inauguration to the public on June 10th, exactly one hundred years after Gaudí’s death.
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