Gabriele Baracco and the creative power of pandemic isolation.

Each year Valentino Balboni selects a Lamborghini that ignites a passion in him.  The owner of the car is presented with the Valentino Balboni Award.  The award is a unique creation each year, designed by an Italian artist of Valentino’s selection.  Please read this brief introduction of the artist Gabriele Baracco.  You will also learn of his inspiration for this one of a kind creation.

Gabriele Baracco, born in 1974, is a photographer, sculptor, graphic designer, dancer, costume designer, illustrator, riding teacher but first he is the Emilian artist who created the Valentino Balboni Award 2021, an award that has been presented for five years, from the legendary Lamborghini test driver to the most fascinating vintage super car of the car manufacturer of the raging Bull.

His work is the result of the 2020 lockdown months, when Gabriele, in solitude in his apartment in Carpi (Modena), began to paint at the mercy of a creative delirium, through which body and soul gave vent to his artistic vein. An activity that also proved to be therapeutic and that led him to create large canvases with water and light, following a project that traces the centuries: from classical Greece to Rome, from Christianity to the contemporary world of cars, passing through his city of origin, Carpi.

A lover of nature and animals, horses in particular, he finds the basis of his art on his passion that we find in the works painted in the long months of pandemic isolation: Bucephalus, horses, hawks, ladybugs, up to the famous symbol of Automobili Lamborghini: the bull. Emblem of strength, earth sign, Taurus refers to an imaginary of virile power, solidity, and vitality. Animal and symbolism that the artist loves and that we can find several times in his works, such as in his painting depicting the Lamborghini Sián.

The idea of ​​the Valentino Balboni Award 2021 is inspired by the combination of the passion for horse racing, which led Gabriele Baracco to love super cars, and that for the bullfighting tradition.

For his work “El Toro Gallardo” Gabriele was inspired by the bull and its might. The colors used are those of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni, the limited edition made in only 250 units that in 2009 the Sant’Agata Bolognese house created to celebrate the most famous of its test drivers. The body of the sculpture, which depicts an orange and white bull, recalls the livery palette of the Gallardo LP 550-2 launch model; the super car was in fact produced in Borealis Orange color with a white-gold central stripe that ran longitudinally from the front hood to the rear spoiler to emphasize its uniqueness.

Baracco’s sculpture was born by shaping clay, a classic method used by the artist, and it is from the clay that the award, made of lightweight fiberglass, originated. Thus, Gabriele commented on his work, “In a world that is projected towards extreme technology, I am proud to be Italian with Greco-Roman art in my DNA, and therefore an ambassador of the classical arts. I hope with my art to pass on this priceless heritage that has always made our country the center of the world. It was a pleasure to be able to express the strength of the Lamborghini brand with my art for such an important event as the Concorso Italiano.“

Gabriele and Valentino met at the beginning of May in Gabriele’s gallery, together with Lorenzo Tondelli, craftsman in Carpi, of luxury handmade and custom-made furniture (www.lorentondelli.com) at the invitation of Raffaello Porro.

In fact, it will be Tondelli who created the precious box that will hold Gabriele Baracco’s sculpture, and this is his comment, “We export fine furniture all over the world and only for selected customers and in this we feel close to the world of supercars. Valentino Balboni is a myth for those who love Lamborghinis and we are sure that the award will go to a person who knows how to appreciate craftsmanship, fine finishes and beauty.”

To have your Lamborghini considered for the Valentino Balboni award you must be present at Concorso Italiano on August 14th.  To register your car please go here.  If you would like tickets, please go here.