Daniele Accossaro was born in Turin in 1987, where he still lives and works. From a very young age, he has chosen sculpture as his medium, graduating at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti di Torino in 2011.

Daniele Accossato, Box n.1 – Amore rapito, 2015
Courtesy Daniele Accossato

Inspired by mythology and history, his works deepen artistic and cultural roots. He sculpts ancient heroes, gods and angels and places these icons into a new context. Accossato chooses archetypal characters and symbolical images as protagonists of his works. This is a symptom of his willingness to interiorize, filter and go beyond our culture. The citation doesn’t stop at a simple act of reverence, the icons in Accossato’s works are abused, hidden, forced, sacrificed, pulled off the pedestal, and closely debating with the observer. This is a kind of sacrilegious but also humanizing act in respect of these great classics in the history of art, that become more tangible and less unworldly.

The use of earthly materials, such as clay, for the first creation of his images it’s a way for the artist to express spontaneity, to let the images become tangible. After this first phase, Accossato works to create the final piece, looking for a compromise to not misrepresent the original idea. The choice of materials falls on durable materials like resin, concrete, bronze and ceramic.

The artist Daniele Accossato
Courtesy Davide Paludetto

Extreme importance is given not just to a pure icon, but also to its container, to its frame. The sculptures are exhibited in their transport packaging, in cage/case that acts as protection and prison. It is this particular artistic choice that makes the images created by the artist to be felt as contemporary. These are decontextualized and put in a cage in their packaging, hiding and revealing new sides of the pieces. This could also be interpreted as an act of defiance against the commodification of art, also of its most “sacred” and untouchable forms.