Bear soul by Simone Benedetto
With Bear Soul, Simone Benedetto continues his exploration of the symbolic figure of the child as a threshold of transformation, where human identity gradually opens to a deeper, instinctive, and ancestral dimension. The sculpture depicts a seated child in a state of apparent stillness, above whom the presence of the bear emerges—not as a narrative element, but as the manifestation of an inner process connected to strength, introspection, and primal nature.
The artist: Simone Benedetto
Simone Benedetto was born in Turin in 1985 and graduated with honors in Sculpture and Plastic Arts from the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti. His research focuses on the figure of the child as a symbolic device of psychological transformation. The child is never represented as a fixed identity, but as an evolving organism, suspended between human and animal states. Through extremely precise modelling, the artist gives visible form to the inner process of change that accompanies growth. Each work becomes a hybrid sculptural image in which animal elements emerge from the child’s body itself. He has taken part in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad and lives and works in Turin.
Description of “Bear soul”
In Bear Soul, the child’s figure is constructed as a body crossed by a latent tension, poised between control and instinct. The presence of the bear acts as a symbol of deep inner strength, linked both to instinct and introspection. It is not an external element, but rather a possible emergence of the unconscious inhabiting the figure itself, suggesting a silent yet profound process of transformation.
Conclusion
Within the group exhibition WILD SOULS, Bear Soul contributes to a dialogue centered on childhood as an original space of connection with nature and one’s most authentic dimension. The sculpture becomes an image of transition, where human and animal coexist as states of the same evolving identity. The work is on view at Galleria PUNTO SULL’ARTE until June 13, 2026.