The egg of Pin-occhio*

"In the beginning of the Universe / the goddess was alone. / She laid the Egg of the world". This is the image of the bird-goddess as presented by the Indian mythology (1). According to certain myths, the bird which lays the egg is the same one which sits on it; it is the spirit that fecundates the formless matter (as for example the Holy Spirit, represented in the Bible as a white dove). In all the different symbologies, the idea of the Universal Chaos is closely related to the Cosmic Egg. But the egg is in itself already a first stage in the organization of the chaos: in all cultures, it is the principle and the symbol of Unity. The egg is therefore androgynous: in some African cultures, the yellow of the yolk represents the "humid" female principle, whereas the white of the albumen stands for the male semen. "Outside, the gods’ white rock has been created upon the egg’s shell. Inside, a lake (as white as mother-of-pearl) clearly whirled in the liquid part of the egg" (taken from the Po ti bse ru, a Tibetan work). In this same way, Leda’s egg is also androgynous: Castor is associated to Clytemnestra (and thus to the sons of Tyndareus, that is, the mortal side) and Pollux to Helen (and thus to the sons of Zeus-swan, that is, the divine side, with which Dali identified himself with regard to Gala). Besides its obvious significance as birth and origin of life as well as of the world, the egg is also a symbol of death, that is, of the eternal Life. The egg is "paschal" because its meaning includes death, too (the egg that gets broken represents the sepulchre that opens to allow resurrection). Mircea Eliade wrote: "The egg as a symbol is not as much related to a birth as to a rebirth, which occurs again and again according to the cosmogonic model... The egg confirms and promises resurrection which is ... not a birth, but rather a return, a repetition." Easter comes in Spring, at a time when nature rises again from the winter sepulchre. The egg is an esoteric symbol, too, it is the vase in which the alchemical transmutations take place. An alchemistical interpretation of the tale "Pinocchio" is also possible, especially of one particular chapter of it: that namely in which the hungry puppet tries to make a fried egg, but without using any oil or butter (elements of the anointing which is preparatory to the operation), and using water instead (the "bain-marie"). It is then that a chick comes out of the egg (according to the explanation of the "cooking", the chick is the Infant Jesus, the philosophers’ stone, Gold). Eggs and chicken also fill Pappi Corsicato’s movie Buchi neri ("Black holes"). In it, a resurrection is announced (the name of one of the lead characters is namely Angela), while the different figures continue walking on a dismal street of Naples’ suburbs (reminding of Bunuel’s movie The charme discret de la bourgeoisie): when they are miraculously reborn, a huge egg appears above the hill.
Luigi Ontani was born, so to speak, in the shade of an egg. "In a scenery reminding of the Arabian Nights there is Montovolo, the egg-shaped mountain which acts as the prolific forefather both of the castle and of the artist." (2). The castle is La Rocchetta in Riola di Vergato (and Vergato is the village in the Subappennines where Ontani was born), which was built in a faked oriental, Moorish style by order of the Count Mattei, an alchimist and one of the first homeopathists. Precisely within the walls of the "Fortezza dell’arte" in Montalcino, Ontani displays six large terra-cotta eggs. The material used indicates in itself the deep bonds which tie Ontani to the energy of the earth. The eggs will probably be scattered around, as if born out of a spontaneous sprouting: on the retaining wall, among the vases, imprisoned in the in-between space of the balcony, camouflaged so that each of them will be a surprise (eggs usually contain surprises: for example, children’s plays are inside chocolate eggs in use for Easter, and a chick is found in the egg of Pinocchio - a character Ontani has dealt with for a long time). Eyes are wide open on these closed egg-shapes and form a spiral reaching as far as the pineal eye, which is smiling and melancholic at the same time. Pineal is the name given to a "small gland in the brain; it is cone-shaped and it takes the form of a reddish limp pine-cone situated behind the thalamuses; in ancient times it was considered as the seat of the soul; its function is little known (slowing effect on the growth of the body)" (definition taken from the "Zingarelli" dictionary). So, does perhaps an (almost) useless gland, an unknown mysterious organ, reduce the speed of the body’s growth in order to increase that of the soul, which it was thought was dwelling there? The theme of the egg was already present in Ontani’s works, where it was always coupled witht hat of the eye: Uomo, uovo, occhio ("Man, egg, eye") or Pinealissima [This part of the title is impossible to translate, as it refers to the pineal gland, the word being the superlative degree of the adjectiv "pineal" - Note of the Translator] are the titles of a mask created in 1982 which was covered with eyes; a like image can be found in his 1993 self-portrait, a photograph touched up with water colors, bearing the title Uomo che guarda l’ontano or Pinealana [the first part of the title plays with the words "l’ontano", hinting at the author’s name Ontani and "lontano", that is, "far away", while the second part is again a reference to the pineal gland - Note of the Translator]. Avo Ovo Pavoneale is the title given to another image combining the egg with the eye and referring to the peacock, the animal upon which Hera transferred the one-hundred eyes of Argos when the latter was killed (his eyes took turns in sleeping, fifty at a time). Covered up with eyes is also the mask called EgGoista (the name plays on the English word for the egg) (3). This is precisely the matrix of the works on the theme of the egg, which in turn echoes the experience of his 1982 journey to Bali. EgGoista is a huge mask which covers the whole of the body when squatting, except the feet. A body-mask is also that in the form of an egg with a nose like that of Pinocchio: there, the typical cone-shaped hut is obtained from an alder’s twisted leaf made of leather with little mirrors on top. The title of the work is Pinocchiovo/Pinovocchio (where the author is again playing on the words "Pinocchio" and "ovo"="egg" - Note of the Translator). The egg had also appeared in the last of the "grilli" [=crickets] ("talking crickets", maybe?****): the Grillo Mediolanum, where the egg is that of Fontana, but also that of Piero della Francesca. Thus, the egg is the symbol of a synthesis and at the same time of unity and of the birth of the city, and it can be understood by everybody notwithstanding their cultural references.
The funerary aspect of the egg is also expressed in the Canopo ("canopic vase") made in poychromed fired clay: it draws inspiration from the ancient funeral vases made in terra-cotta or bronze which had a cover in form of a human head and handles representing the arms. The canopic vase was generally arranged on a peculiar support made of terra-cotta or bronze, which had the shape of a throne with a base in form of a truncated-cone and a back. It was the typical product of the Etruscan village of Chiusi (not far from Montalcino) during the 7th and the 6th century B.C. Curious is the fact that the "canopo" is an element which underwent a transformation, i.e., a stylization, resembling that of the "grilli": these were fantastic head-and-legs figures of ancient times which became very popular during the Middle Ages; they have been used by Ontani since the "tableau vivant" which was inspired by the Temptations of St. Anthony by Bosch and which was exhibited in Amsterdam on the occasion of the first one-man show of the artist abroad, in 1975. Besides the six eggs and the "Canopo", there will also be a wineyard-like row of eight masks which will pour water and wine. As usual, Ontani will draw inspration from the site itself, and wine is probably the most typical product of Montalcino. The masks could be used to decorate the high retaining walls around the entrance yard following the passageway.There are two series of masks, both referring to the seasons: the works of the first one, made in watercolors, have the initial letters Prim., Aut., etc. ("spring", "autumn",) as their titles, whereas the masks of the second one, richer in colors, have their names modified according to puns: Primav/eros [playing with the words "primavera" - that is, "spring" - and "eros"; Note of the Translator], Esta/si [playing with the words "estate" - that is, "summer" - and "si" = "yes", to build the word "ecstasy"; Note of the Translator], Inver/o [playing with the words "inverno" - that is, "winter" - and "invero" - that is, "in truth", "truly"; Note of the Translator]. There might be a participation of the poet Valentino Zeichen who (together with Luciano Pistoi and Marco Noire) had published the book Svanimento, promptly re-named by Ontani Valentino sesso e vino ("Valentine sex and Wine"), echoing the famous Marcellino pane e vino. It is also possible that the exhibition will be accompanied by a treble voices’ choir performing songs centering on wine and providing a suitable sound track for the complex and yet agile installation, which will be filled only by extremely light echoes and harmonies. This mystical mixture of poetry, music and wine creates a Dionisyac ambience which reminds of BacCasco, the exhibition organized by Pistoi in Volpaia, in 1993. Ontani celebrated there the Eucharistic Mystery of the Last Supper, contaminating it with pagan images like that of Bacchus (the artist had already dedicated a tableau vivant to Caravaggio’s Bacchino malato). "On a small window of the apse there is even a S. Eufresino pan e vino. The title is ambiguous, though, for in it "pan" has a double meaning: it can in fact be related both to the bread which is the symbol of the said Supper and to another God, namely Pan, comingt straight from the innumerable gods of the past. Once more we must recognize that "poverty" does not suit Ontani, who prefers to resort to his peculiar redundancy in order to avoid any kind of hinting at a Franciscan pauperism." (4). On that occasion, Ontani’s mystical creations were surrounded by the verses of young poets. While the artist looks lovingly at his works**, the philosophical question, whether the egg came first, or the chicken, can be considered as solved: "The Egg of the world and the Bird which lays it are contemporaries" (5). It is the egg of Pin-occhio, but also that of Columbus***, the latter being a figure whith whom Ontani identified at the time of his arrival in America as well as at that of the arrival of the American art in Italy.
Notes
1) Bahvricha Upanishad, in C Amariu, L’Uovo, published by Edizioni Mediterranee, Roma, 1988, page 24.
2) A. Borgogelli, Viaggio di un paggio saggio in Bac/Casco, catalogue of the exhibition held at the Castello di Volpaia, 1993, page 2
3) The theme of the eyes as expressed by Ontani is dealt with by M. Brusatin (Oculocromia o del colore degli occhi) and by G. P. Bona (Lo scolaro di Proteo) in the publication Idea Aida del Vero Diffida, a catalogue for the exhibition organized by R. Barilli at the Galleria dello Scudo in Verona, in 1995. With reference to titles as plays on words, compare G. Belli, Ecce Puer and D. Eccher, Sogni l-ontani, both in Trentazioni, catalogue for the exhibition at Studio Raffaelli in Trento, in 1994.
4) A. Borgogelli, op. cit., page 16.
5) A. Amariu, op. cit., page 95. Information about the symbology of the egg, about the alchemical process and on the esoteric interpretation of the tale "Pinocchio" are taken mainly from this book, as well as from J. Chevalier, A. Gheerbrant Dictionnaire des symboles, Robert Laffent/Juppiter, Paris 1982, and N. Coce e A. Zambrana, Pinocchio e i simboli della grande opra, published by Atanor, Roma, 1984.