Nunzio Paci's 'In the Garden of Idne' Finds Lost Bond With Mother Earth

Italian artist Nunzio Paci lives and works in Italy, with a singular artistic focus:

“My whole work deals with the relationship between man and Nature, in particular with animals and plants. The focus of my observation is body with its mutations. My intention is to explore the infinite possibilities of life, in search of a balance between reality and imagination.”

Nunzio Paci’s new show ‘In the Garden of Idne’ opens Dec. 12, 2014 at the Oxholm Gallery in Copenhagen. The two-person show, shared with Shay Davis, runs until January 11, 2015.

The body of work featured ‘In the Garden of Idne’ focuses on the Jewish folklore of the Vegetable Man. An exploration of the theme of closeness to Nature, Paci’s imagines a return to the beginning.

While it’s known to me that Adam had more than one wife and that Lilith preceded a more yielding Eve, I am not aware that some verses of The Book of Genesis suggest that “God had created 1.000 different worlds which were destroyed and then forgotten. Others indicate that God had made various attempts at making man. “

Little record remains on these early attempts, but it is known in Jewish mythology that the first one was Idne or Adne Sadeh. Idne was described as a manlike creature who was regarded a plant rather than a man. As told by Louis Ginzberg in “The Legends of the Jews”, “His form is exactly that of a human being, but he is fastened to the ground by means of a navel-string, upon which his life depends. The cord once snapped, he dies”.

“In the Garden of Idne” is Paci’s attempt to evoke our lost bond with Mother Earth. But it is also a journey in a land of primitive experimentation, a garden laboratory where the artist analyses the origins of human life.

The cord of Idne was very long and nothing could take its life, except a flood or other disaster. Thus, this species of humans — considered perhaps to be an evolving ape man — lived until the great Flood.

Related: Christina Hendricks Reveals Our Inner Lilith Woman It Girl

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