The Shadow of Joan Crous arrives in San Petronio

Joan Crous, a Catalan artist based in Bologna for years, has spent five years creating a work that seeks to be a cry against war and fascism. The Shadow, a monumental sculpture made of fragments of glass and earth, can be seen complete for the first time in the Basilica of San Petronio, in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna. With dimensions similar to those of Picasso's famous painting, this piece will be on display from April 25th until the end of June.

Inspired by the brutal bombing of Guernica in 1937, L'Ombra emerges as a contemporary reinterpretation of the pain and destruction caused by war conflicts. Crous has used his personal technique, "embucall", which consists of fossilizing everyday fragments with glass powder to transform them into a relief surface. The sculpture is made up of 770 tiles of glass paste and soil in sand molds. At first glance, his work looks like a city in ruins, gray and lifeless, but when the light passes through it, images appear that recall elements of Picasso's Guernica: figures of death, the scream of a woman in flames, the horse...

The project was born in 2019, at a time of strong political tension in Catalonia. Crous, originally from Banyoles (Girona), wanted to convey to the people of Bologna the symbolic importance of Picasso's painting and, at the same time, denounce the danger of exclusionary nationalisms. However, the onset of the pandemic and the outbreak of new wars, such as those in Ukraine and Palestine, gave his work a new depth and urgency. Initially conceived as a representation of an anti-fascist demonstration seen from the air, history overturned its initial intention. The sculpture became a reflection on destruction and the passage of time, even incorporating symbolic materials such as vaccine vials and bullets.

Exhibiting this piece in the Basilica of San Petronio has a special meaning for the artist. Crous highlights the role of Pope Francis in his open criticism of the war and believes that showing the work in a church with so much political and social history reinforces the pacifist message of his creation. This is not the first time that L'Ombra has been shown to the public; it had already been exhibited in a reduced version in the church of the Villaggio del Fanciullo, and will soon travel to Girona. In 2027, coinciding with the 90th anniversary of the bombing of Guernica, it is expected to arrive in the Basque city, possibly at the Museum of Peace.

Crous's work goes beyond a simple reinterpretation of Guernica; it is an exercise in memory and awareness that reminds us that destruction and human suffering are not a thing of the past, but realities that repeat themselves with new forms and contexts.