Fuseum
Il magico parco-museo dell’artista Brajo Fuso
An extraordinary complex of artworks created by the Perugian Brajo Fuso is located on Montemalbe hill in Strada dei Cappuccini, Perugia. Sculptures and installations made from a wide variety of materials, textural paintings, ceramics, and fantastical tales allow visitors to enter a unique artistic experience of nearly four decades of experimentation. An artistic reading of a troubled world A great inquirer and discoverer, Brajo Fuso was born in Perugia on 21 February 1889, a month (febbraio in Italian) that inspired his mother in the choice of his unusual name. In 1923 he graduated in medicine and opened a dental practice in Perugia. He pursued his profession in an exalted manner with all the scientific and human commitment that this kind of work demands, so much so that he had numerous patents to his name, such as the combined dental drill unit and chair, installed for the first time in the world in his clinic. His personality, in constant motion, did not in any way deprive him of living life fully even in a creative and imaginative way. His wife, the Bolognese academic painter Elisabetta Rampielli, known as Bettina, would be fundamental to his artistic training. After his last obligatory and painful mission in the war in 1940 stimulated the artist to paint, his artistic adventure began. From colours on canvas, he came to collect and manipulate the most disparate objects and materials such as sheet metal, iron, aluminium, glass, ceramics, plastic and textiles, giving them a new aesthetic image. He desired to represent the troubled historical events of his time, from 1945 to 1980, demonstrating the ability to react creatively to the environment in which one lives, the ability to live positively. His spontaneous and unconscious works, exhibited throughout Italy, would coincide with the techniques of the greatest international masters, such as Jackson Pollock, but the artist’s choice was always to remain and cultivate his art in his Perugian refuge, creating an exhibition space, a fundamental place of creation, open to the public: “In 1961, on the hill of Montemalbe, five kilometers from Perugia, among the green of the holm oaks, I created the Fuseum, my personal gallery, the wooded park dotted with sculptures. (...) I am very attached to my paintings and I am very happy when I feel them close to me. I wanted to give them a home, like children.’’ Having no heirs, he decided to entrust it after his death in 1980 to the Fondazione di San Martino to preserve it and make it a place of openness for artistic experimentation.
A forest populated by magical creatures A yellow gate as imposing as it is surreal opens to a surrounding enclosure wall set with scrap of the most varied materials, designed and built entirely by the artist. Continuing along the driveway, the gaze falls on a forest of holm oaks, in which plastic tubular sculptures and iron works are scattered, beginning to plunge us into this fantasy world, container and content of Brajo Fuso’s original art. To learn about the documentary and artistic side of the Umbrian artist’s life, one enters the Brajita: the small house where the Fuso couple stayed for short summer periods, alternating their residence between Perugia and Montemalbe. Immediately next door is the Gallery, a labyrinth of eleven rooms containing a selection of some 110 incredible works that illustrate Brajo Fuso’s artistic journey in thematic and chronological order, ending with the Pictochrome, his workshop. We then come to the Sala Bettina, the room Brajo dedicated to his beloved wife and to her paintings, where he frequently held banquets with friends. To maintain its convivial nature, after its renovation, to this day it has become a place equipped for catering that can host cultural events of various kinds. On the upper floor is the Hall of the Hellenes, used by the artist as a warehouse to preserve some of his works from the elements. Just from the name of the space, one can trace the significant anthropomorphic statues, made of salvaged materials, safeguarded inside it: scrap that become heroes to save the disappearing humanism. It is currently the main site dedicated to events. Three of the nine Hellenes are still present in the hall, as its hosts. Two others are in the Gallery, one in the Brajta, and the last three are in the Museo Civico in Palazzo della Penna, Perugia. Brightly coloured tiles, scrap metal, car rims, dentures set into the concrete floor, along with fantastic tales hanging on the walls, lead inside the park filled with other unique sculptures and art installations. The pathways all have curious names such as “ the way of the Gratopasso (grateful step),” “ the path of the Sdrucciolo (slipping),” “ the way of the Grevandare (heavy going)” highlighting in each step, his creativity and inventiveness. Among the plants, an amphitheatre for plays and acting opens up next to flamingos, caterpillars, penguins and salamanders that inhabit the Brajzoo: a semi-circular pavilion dedicated to the sculptures of the animal world, which for a long time animated the bushes of the forest, later brought together by the artist in one place. This is a magical world of continuous discovery, with a surprise around every corner, to experience and, through fantastic creatures, delve into the brilliant mind of one of the great protagonists of Umbrian cultural history. Hours: Open Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Entry fee: 5€ per person ages 14 to 64 (except for students, disabled people and their carers). Discounted: 1€ for those aged 6 to 13, high school and college students and people over 65. You must show proof of age or student ID to take advantage of the discount. Free: for children under 6 years old, disabled persons and their carers. Special openings and guided tours for schools or groups can be booked. FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://www.fuseum.eu/