You will never look at a bag of concrete in quite the same way again. What is one man’s bag of construction materials is another man’s artistic inspiration and creative form it seems. Add in an architect’s mind, plasterer’s skills and jazzy soundtrack and you have an incredible collection of sculptures by Capo Sasso that are an enigma wrapped in a paper bag!
There’s something wonderful about appreciating a unique piece of artwork and then learning about the artist’s journey and the narrative behind the craftsmanship and creative passion. This provenance is what brings art to life and certainly gives the quirky works of sculptor, painter and architect Capo Sasso a sense of living history. His innovative sculptures in bronze, marble and gypsum are totally original, yet for Capo to create pieces using cement bags is not as strange as it may at first sound!
The story begins in 1941 Germany, in the midst of World War II. Capo’s father is a plasterer and at the tender age of 14 follows in his footsteps learning the trade. The unrest sent the Sasso family back to their roots in the west, to Rehlingen Siersburg in Saarland, an area that has gypsum at the heart of its community, with an underground mine and international industry. Capo grew up surrounded by 50 kg paper bags of the stuff and they shaped the man and the artist he was to become.
Capo joined the stucco trade before setting off to study as an architect whilst pursuing a love of music, particularly the jazz bands of the US, which influenced his art. What followed was building a holiday village and a house that was used in TV and film productions. Buying a small plane, as one does, Capo’s flights to visit friends on the French Riviera lead to him settling on the Cote D’Azur. A whole new community of French artists, galleries and expos exploded, and he created a studio on the Italian side too; the beauty of the landscapes interpreted in less-than-glamorous concrete. A chance evening of performing Italian melodies led to an opportunity to become a marble sculptor with the masters of the day, including a craftsman who had worked with famed British sculptor, Stuart Moor.
Capo is renowned for his En Forme De Sac sculptures created from hardened cement sacks with heads, instruments and other details which are cast in bronze or resin.