Iniziazione 1969

This sculpture, titled Iniziazione, by Italian artist Aldo Mondino, merges the unexpected: a bronze fish poised atop a pair of slender, vaguely human legs. Mondino, working in the latter half of the 20th century, was deeply engaged with the legacy of Surrealism and the readymade, movements that challenged the established institutions of art by embracing the absurd and the everyday. The sculpture’s humor isn't just playful; it's a challenge to our expectations of what art should be. It invites questions about our place in the natural order and our relationship to the animal world. Are we elevating the fish, or is the fish mocking our self-importance? To truly understand Mondino’s work, one might delve into the history of Italian art after World War II, paying attention to the ways artists broke from tradition to reflect on the changing social and political landscape of the country. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.