Sebastiano Leta is an artist working in a variety of media; a sculptor as well as a painter, his materials are predominately stone, bronze and ceramics on both large and small scale including miniatures in porcelain and bronze.

Sebastiano's themes have a focus on ” Angels”, but what kind of Angels?

His Angels seem to bring the future to the past, playing with our ideas of what angels could be. They have just enough human form to give us a point of reference; masculine in appearance, wanting to be benign heroes but aliens in their physical form, oddly restrained in their movements, almost immobilised with their arms transformed into swirling rounded snake forms protruding from patches of armour that sometimes gives the humorous impression of angels wrapped in straight jackets.

With his bronzes he has allowed the figures to flow and move, dematerialising the angels; and reflecting succinctly the material of poured metal.

With ceramics he has a delicate touch that again reflects the material. Small and fragile as they are, they maintain a sense of monumental self assured angels. Their tiny little wings are far too small to carry them aloft, but spiky details give them the defences they need to remain earthbound and bestow them with a sense of powerful warriors.

His recent works, mostly bas-reliefs based on religious themes of Pieta's and Saints appear less detached from reality than his futuristic angels even if more human in appearance.

Sebastiano's creativity is developing through a range of media that bears witness to his sensitivity towards each material and continues to surprise us all with whimsy, wonder and humour. I hope that he continues to surprise us and that he never loses the childlike wonder that is the fountain of his expression.

EPPE DE HAAN