The works of Luigi Galligani are figures which seem to have taken their form from the wind and rain on a timeless seashore. Still, unmoving, listening attentively, they seem to await some mysterious message to reach them from infinity. Their astonished, thoughtful eyes witness a world light years away from our time, yet their emanation of humanity is close to us, beyond the sands which separate them from the sea. Women enclosed in pure forms like those of storms in a river which the water has worn smooth on its flow from mountain to sea. Works composed of essential lines that only nature and art can bring to an end.
Art needs simplicity, it needs impetus, and can be born of a piece of rock which requires a sharp wind and rough terrain to shape it.
Luigi Galligani transfers his interior world of reflections into stone, bronze, cement, or terracotta. He is conscious that it is not enough to be a craftsman, without a profound message works of art are simply mediocre.
But who are they, and what are they trying to tell us, these women created by the artist, who dominate the long banks of dreams? Bathers in the sand, mythical figures, sybils or mothers awaiting the return of their children departed for distant shores?
Their poses express a message which passes between earth and sky, between the dimensions of reality and the imaginary world of fables.
The sculptures of Luigi Galligani should be considered in depth, in the same way as is oft-repeated, when considering the great names in literature and art: "God manifests himself in us through the life of the universe and human thought. The first manifestation is called Nature, the second is called Art." The Galligani sculptures are on the edge of these two dimensions, and thus imprison the soul of the world. Art is not imitation but illusion, contemplation. It is the pleasure of a spirit which penetrates the mystery of nature and discovers that she also has a soul. It is the most exciting mission of Man, who is trying to understand the universe and also help others to understand it.
The huge eyes of their luminous countenances hold the astonishment of the mouldines from Pompei when the fleeting moment of life became imprisoned in volcanic lava. Figures with astonishment and terror on their faces, forms desperately reaching out towards an established destiny. They turn their faces toward the sky before darkness falls. The artist encloses his models in curved lines, leaving pathos to reveal itself through the harmony of the forms stretching upwards. This yearning to rise up from the earth takes shape in the form of Pegasus about to fly up towards the sky, almost symbolizing the struggle of thought against the black clouds of incomprehension.
Each sculpture, resting among rustic scenery, appears sublime if one is able to detach oneself for a moment from the hubbub of everyday life and see it simply as a child can who is not capable of destroying the present with the memories of the past.
The path of Galligani is spiritual, a song of nature, of life, of universal love. There is always a warm light to illuminate its horizon, the same which lights up the fields of corn, the lonely seas, the silent landscapes.
The sculptures bear witness to a distant time and narrate the story of a secret, hidden for years in the depths of the earth, among the remains of a vanished civilization.
Sculpture for the artist means being able to remain equally balanced between an extreme awareness of the present and at the same time with the dignity of having to keep alive a sense of wonder for the world. His work seems to be saying: "Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add to the subject, but only when nothing more can be taken away".