07/10/2014

Guest Interview n° 58: Keren Cytter

On the occasion of the solo exhibition at Raffaella Cortese gallery in Milan, we met Keren Cytter (b.1977, Israel), one of the most brilliant and critically acclaimed (even though she is quick to point out her bad reviews) artists of the latest generation, who works with film, video installations, performance, drawings and photography, besides writing novels, theatre plays and poetry. In a light, pleasant conversation, with sharp irony flavored with an uncommon speed of thought, Keren talks about her idea of identity, women’s issues and positive thinking, passing through the genius of Roger Federer and the work of some colleagues.

Identity vs Status. Are people more focussed on building their status instead of looking at their own identity?
I don’t think so, just compare todays situation to 16th century when the value of status was really much higher. If you think about mental illness, for example, if you had some mental disorder your family kicked you out because of the status of the illness. Now there is much more acceptance. Everybody is talking about identity now because of the Internet, but I’m torn a bit. The problem today is that there is a different idea of status; it is more related to being perfect and when people discover that they have an average life, this causes depression. I think this is why people question ever more often their status related to sexuality or gender. I think a lot of sufferance comes from the contemporary notions of status, but now that I turned 37, I’m very happy because I learnt that I don’t have to fit into pre-established codes. Recently, I was in Greece and a bought a bouzouki (a Greek mandolin), and now I’m playing: I do not have any ambitions to be fitting, so I can simply have fun.

So do you think you have found your balance?
You know, I find it and then I lose it. One moment I know how things go and soon after I lose it again and get depressed…

I understand, but you do a lot of things (you write, you are a director, a performer etc.) and you shine at everything so this could be helpful to be more self-confident?
Ah, this is good, but I’m not aware of it and indeed I read very bad reviews about my work and this makes me think a lot about how they know if a thing is good or not, or which review I should believe.

Does this hurt you?
No, I’m not that fragile but it is frustrating. When I think that something is good I hold on and think how I can improve it. Like the “Show Real Drama”, it’s one of my theatre plays and I think it’s really good, but except from one time, we never got good reviews. I think this keeps me down to earth. I’m doing a catalogue containing all my scripts and while doing this I’m discovering myself acting like business people do, I feel like a serious person, kind of like Anna Wintour.

Are you scaring your collaborators?
I think that everybody thinks she’s scary just because she’s a woman, if she were a men it would be totally fine!

You gave me an input to ask you about your idea regarding women’s rights. Are women still underestimated?
Oh yes for sure, I think about it a lot. Since I’m Jewish, I get hurt a lot, but I think that being a woman is actually much more discriminating than being Jewish because as a woman I can be raped. There are some sentences that really piss me off, like once I was asked to be interviewed “with other really strong women” and I thought “what does it mean, what is a strong woman?” Based on what I know, most of these strong women in art can barely pay the rent because they don’t sell. It’s all marketing and this makes me angry. I remember when I was in art school, I applied for a prize with some work with spray on canvas. When I met the jury they said: “Oh, we didn’t expect you to be a woman” so in that moment I realized that I changed their expectations. I’m also thinking that women never ever succeed like men.

Changing the topic, how do you start the production of a video? Do you need to write it down before?
No, I just need to think about images or style or how you could perceive things. For example, I had an idea on how to proceed for the next video, but this is from something I saw long time ago on Youtube. It is a tennis match between Federer and Marat Safin, the Russian handsome guy, and it had the soundtrack of “Teenage wasteland” that I never heard before, but it’s really exciting and I enjoyed watching the video. It had an editing on VHS with lots of cuts and stops before and after, and it looked so nice that I though to make a video that is a bit this kind of writing, where you have something then you have a glimpse of something, then this glimpse can continue a bit longer and then the chunks are not related to drama but always with a bit of misfile. Then I got the new Leonard Cohen record, and it has really optimistic tunes and also the tone of the music itself and he says, or I think he says, that in this times people really need positive messages and I thought about that too. So that’s the way, I just think about things around me until I feel that I’m somewhere in this place and then I can start working on it.

You mentioned Roger Federer, this gives me the chance to talk a little bit about your passion for tennis. Could you tell us what are the “Federer moments” for you?
It’s so unique to find athletes that fight against themselves, that are focused on improving themselves instead of trying to beat someone else. I read Joseph Campbell’s writings about mythology and the highest level of mythology of the Hero – who is he with himself – and I think it is what Federer is doing, just expanding himself. Once I went to Madison Square Garden to see a game and there were Andy Roddick and Roger Federer. Roddick was more eloquent, but Federer was just in perfect harmony, the highest level of unity between spirit and body. Then in 2008 I remember being in Japan and waking up because of the jet leg and there was Wimbledon final on the TV. It was the first time that Federer lost against Nadal. It was one of the longest matches ever, I stayed up all the night and I realized that I cared about Federer. After that I read an article saying Federer was treating tennis as art, while sport should not be art, but actually I think that the highest level of sport could be like art, like a conceptual idea and he is just special.

But besides the genius, athletes need a constant training to achieve their goals. Do you think this could work also for artists?
Well, I think that now it’s a bit different. We are in a conceptual era, where you have many works that insult our intelligence, in which you can’t see anything to admire and even nothing that you can’t understand.

Is the direction we are going towards devoid of contents and critical thinking?
I think ten years ago the situation was more or less the same. 90% of what you see is not that good, yet you should at least try twice before saying you don’t like something, because it’s too easy to criticize without seeing things.

Which are your sources of inspiration? Are there any books or other works that interested and influenced you?
I think there are a lot of books, all the classics like Dostoevskij and E.A. Poe, whom I never liked yet I recently realised that his structure is similar to what I’m doing. Then also Gombrowicz, the Polish writer, whose themes are related to existential problems, treated with lightness and satire.

And what about contemporary art?
I made a list because I need to think about this. I like Fischli&Weiss, Wilhelm Sasnal… You know who I think I like but I’m torn because he is so successful? Wolfgang Tillmans. I have to admit I like him a lot. I’m not sure if I like Cattelan, his works are more entertainment, but at the same time, they are not so cheap and stupid.

No women? What about Joan Jonas? Do you think you have something in common despite the generation gap?
I understand what she’s doing and really appreciate and respect her. I met her in Japan long time ago and I think she’s very respectful too, giving space to everybody. She’s old enough to see that there is space for everyone. I think we are both on the study of the same things and we try to combine the same ingredients in a different way. The medium is also quite similar, we just have a different language, but actually the language is not that different. Maybe I base my work more on text, while she is more concentrated on symbols, ancient symbols, symbolic symbols and stuff like that. I know that she knows my work and I think she likes it too.

Interview by Monica Lombardi 
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29/09/2014

Joan Jonas | Performance Is Always A Living Matter

The Pirelli Hangar Bicocca in Milan is almost ready to open “Light Time Tales”, the first major exhibition in Italy of the queen of performance and video art Joan Jonas (b. 1936, New York). The huge retrospective, curated by Andrea Lissoni, encompasses the long lasting career of the American visual artist, presenting historical and recent works – 10 installations and 9 videos, with an original piece specifically conceived for this show – and gives us the occasion to spend some words about a crucial figure of contemporary art.

Jonas’ artistic research, started in the late 60s and 70s, mainly focuses on the connections between video and performance, exploiting the use of other complementary media such as installation, sound, text, and drawing, without leaving behind her initial interest for sculpture, to develop the earliest formalist and feminist videos ever. Since 1968, her practice has been characterised by a pioneering multimediality strictly connected with theatrical language which analyses the body – for long time, her own body was the core of her work – and its interaction with physical environments and systems of token props and motifs such as mirrors, dogs, landscapes, the sun and the moon, etc. Interrupting the vision of the surrounding space, mirrors change the perception of the world symbolically turning the reality into its representation.

Jonas’ poetic is based on a non-linear, open narration, which plumbs different sources, from mythology to poetry, passing through fairy tales, past and everyday life situations, and explores in a fragmented way diverse intimate issues creating landmark references that are able to examine the potential of the medium in depth. Minimal gestures, sinuous movements, acoustic images, floating lights, the act of compulsory drawing (one of the artist’ distinctive marks), these are all repeated movements that contribute to making Jonas’ performances intensive and fascinating; as a kind of modern, hypnotic rituals.

Once again Mr. Lissoni offers the opportunity to meet the work of an extraordinary leading figure of international art world. The must-see exhibition will run from 2nd October 2014 to 1st February 2015.

Monica Lombardi 
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22/09/2014

Ryan Gander | Retinal Accounts

This is not the first time that we mention Ryan Gander (b. 1976, Chester, UK), and gb Agency is one of our favourite galleries worldwide, so we cannot avoid devoting some words to “Retinal Accounts”, the latest project coming from the fruitful bond between the two ‘art establishments’.

The work of the English artist, one of the most brilliant protagonists of contemporary conceptual art (and not only), creates more or less veiled juxtapositions, relations and connections between seemingly unrelated entities. His works – conceived with different kind of media, ranging through installation, sculpture, performance, writing, film and graphic design – refer to everyday objects of our society and reveal part of his personal experience. Gander’s poetics is immediate as well puzzling, with an uncommon narrative power. Ye, more than a storyteller who gives answers, the artist could be seen as a catalyst who triggers enquiries. The viewers are included into the setup and invited to wonder about what they are watching. Gander leads people to linger on diverse cognitive dissonances and to plump all the possible combinations, even the most bizarre and distant from our set of beliefs.

“The way things collide” (series started in 2012) unites elements far from each other and from the world we are accustomed to seeing, objects difficult to imagine together, resulting in unexpected artifacts such as a bath towel or a condom made of wood. It seems forcing, but this approach coveys irony and hides food for thought. Through evocative titles and unrestrained works, Gander introduces different levels of comprehension to his practice, involving various levels of reading as well as the audience’s unrestrained curiosity, significant for its capability of developing a narrative, to whatever end it may lead.

In “Two hundred and sixty nine degrees below every kind of zero” (2014), and “Two hundred and sixty eight degrees below every kind of zero” (2014) the artist places two balloons made of fiberglass floating on the ceiling. The title refers to the boiling point of helium, while the piece refers to the word/world invented by Gander: “Culturefield”, the name of a parallel universe towards which the balloons seem to be directed. Gander’s work can incite other people’s creativity by showing them how to easily move from our usual reality to everything else that still has to be invented. Interacting with his spectators, the artist helps them to divest from their superstructures, and enjoys the pleasure of activating their minds.

For all those who think Paris is so much more than a fashion stage, the exhibition will run until 11th of October.

Monica Lombardi 
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15/09/2014

Olafur Eliasson: Riverbed

Louisiana Museum in Denmark hosts the first solo exhibition of Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967, Copenhagen) with the evocative title Riverbed. The striking art venue placed on the cost in the north of Copenhagen offers its unique spaces – a perfect synthesis among works, architecture and landscapes – to the Danish/Icelandic artist who created a site-specific project that looks into the relation between art and nature. According to Eliasson’s inclination to conceive complex, large-scale immersive works, the three-section exhibition presents Riverbed (2014), a central installation made of wet stones, which cover the floors of the entire South Wing turning it into a rocky slippery scenery with a stream of water that totally changes the perception of the galleries, inviting visitors to walk and enjoy the museum in a different way.

Another reflection on the body’s movement in space is present in the three videos of the second section: Movement microscope (2011), where we see dancers in Eliasson’s studio blurring with the everyday working activities; Your embodied garden (2013), the artist’s exploration of a Chinese garden though the minimal movements of choreographer Steen Koerner; Innen Stadt Aussen (2010), a double portrait of Berlin in motion; while the third section presents Model Room (2003) – an essential work of the artist – repeatedly adapted to match the situation, consisting of around 400 prismatic models employed by the artist to develop his projects.

Olafur Eliasson’s poetics is strictly influenced by the peculiarities of the surroundings and plays with natural elements and lights with unpredictable effects, creating myriads of refractions that transform the perception of art spaces and the viewers’ fruition of artworks. Stripped from superstructures, Eliasson’s works aim at generating an intimate relation with people, who are allowed to discover all the devices behind them, making the experience more authentic and open. Riverbed will run until 4th January 2015.

Monica Lombardi 
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08/09/2014

It’s Never Too Late: Dorothy Iannone

It’s never too late: after leading a career in the background, Dorothy Iannone (b. 1933 in Boston, lives and works in Berlin) finally has got the deserved recognition and her controversial and long-term unappreciated art has finally been rediscovered. She had to go beyond the censor climate of the 60s and 70s and challenge the politically correct 80s and 90s up to last years, before starting to gain major attention she was long overdue. It was just the 2009 when the New Museum in New York arranged the artist’s first exhibition at a US museum entitled “Dorothy Iannone: Lioness” (she was already 75 years old!), then other international art institutions such as the Camden Art Centre in London and the Berlinishe Galerie, Museum of Modert Art of Berlin paid tribute to Iannone’s oeuvre, coming to present day at the renowned Migros Museum, which just opened her retrospective: “Censorship And The Irrepressible Drive Toward Love And Divinity”.

Displaying fifty years of work, the exhibition presents the universe of thorny subjects and issues explored by the American artist with her peculiar style and strong narrative power. Through throw colorful painting, drawing, collage, video sculpture and artist’s book, the “sex priestess” of contemporary art gives vent to striking images with explicit texts expressing ecstatic love, without worrying about the common, often hypocrite, sense of morality. The spiritual and physical union between the opposites concerning women’s sexual and intellectual emancipation (a research started before the first waves of feminism) and the act of making erotic love are key topics for this pioneer of art: a self-taught painter able to merge with her work, where private life and artistic poetics go together well; a “transfer” that led even to document her seven-year, total relationship with artist Dieter Roth in the famous artist’s book entitled An Icelandic Saga.

The starting point of the show in Switzerland is Censorship And The Irrepressible Drive Toward Love And Divinity (first released in 1982), a book created by Iannone in response to the censorship of her artworks at a number of exhibitions during his career, among them “Freunde” (Friends, 1969) at Kunsthalle Bern, when shortly before the opening her works were considered too scandalous and thus removed.

This significant comprehensive show of Dorothy Iannone’s work will run until 9th November 2014.

Monica Lombardi 
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18/08/2014

El Greco And Modern Painting At Prado

This week we abandon our aptitude for contemporary to jump back to the Renaissance and have a look at the work of one of the all-time great masters of painting: El Greco, born Dominikos Theotokopoulos (1541 – 1614) in Crete, but working and living in Toledo, Spain. We decided to spend some words on this remarkable Greek artist not just because Prado Museum devoted an important retrospective to the masterpieces of Spanish Renaissance: El Greco And Modern Painting, including some extraordinary pieces executed by him in different periods of his life, but mainly because he was undoubtedly a forerunner, a key figure of art history, too forward for being fully understood by his peers.

With experience gained by traveling throughout Italy and Spain, El Greco developed a unique style, not ascribable to any conventional school, which encompasses elements of Post-Byzantine art, along with ingredients of Mannerism and Italian Renaissance spiced with an uncommon flair for modernism. He was an outsider of his time who got his place in the pantheon of artists with a capitol “A” only in the 20th century. The Spanish museum offers the occasion to admire the refined work of the artist who is considered to be the precursor of both Expressionism and Cubism. The elongated and sinuous silhouettes that remind us of ghosts, the weird palette of unreal colours and the virtuosity of technique combined with the strong expressivity, characterized the conceptual art of El Greco, far from the mere naturalism and focused on human spirit and mind.

Among the works by El Greco on view at Prado we count The Annunciation, The Flight to Egypt, The Trinity, The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest, accompanied by other works of the outstanding permanent collection such as The Still Life with Game, Vegetables and Fruit of Sánchez Cotán. Even if you are a rabid fan of contemporary art, you cannot avoid being enchanted by the expression of a genius. The exhibition will be on show until October 5th.

Monica Lombardi 
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11/08/2014

Richard Prince: It’s a Free Concert

Richard Prince (b. 1949, Panama Canal Zone. Currently lives and works in NY) doesn’t really need any presentation since his name is well known in the art environment. Starting from the late 70s, the American artist came to the attention of wider audiences by exhibiting in prestigious international art venues, reaching astronomical prices on auctions and imposing himself as one of the highest-paid players of the art market.

During his brilliant career, through painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and installation, Prince has traced aspects of American popular culture and subcultures as a sharp and ironic chronicler, reflecting on the issues of identity and taking inspiration from mainstream channels. From the process of re-photographing existing images, which counts the popular Cowboys series – exploiting the figure of Malboro man as an archetype of American masculinity – or the rockers, surfers and bikers with their Girlfriends, to the so-called Jokes paintings, wordplays and gags on monochromes full of humour and sarcasm, passing through the Car Hoods and Nurses series, Prince occasionally returns to some subjects and titles reusing or rearranging them in new narrations.

The beautiful Kunsthaus Bregenz celebrates Richard Prince’s genius with It’s a Free Concert, the first large-scale solo show in an Austrian institution, curated by Yilmaz Dziewior and Rudolf Sagmeister. The exhibition which features works revolving around rock and pop music (Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and the doo-wop bands from the 50s), sex and American street culture, encompassing the main topics and media dissected by the contemporary artist. If you’re planning a trip to Austria for your vacations add this must-see show to your schedule, you won’t regret it! The exhibition will run until October 5th.

Monica Lombardi 
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04/08/2014

Guest Interview n°57: Raffaella Cortese

For our weekly art spot we have decided to change the point of view from who creates art to who deals and sells it, meeting Raffaella Cortese, one of the most eminent Italian gallerists. Waiting for the great, choral opening with Keren Cytter, Kimsooja and Marcello Maloberti, with her distinctive elegance and savoir-faire, she told us about her special career, from the beginnings to its latest evolution, which brought her to open a third art venue in Milan.

Let’s start from the beginning, how and when did you decide to become a gallerist?
The first prophetic sign came when I started collecting the book series “I maestri del colore” (The masters of colour) as a child. I loved looking at the images and that was definitely the first signal. In my family no one dealt with art, but I wanted to take up artistic studies, which was an important experience thanks to a stimulating atmosphere and great teachers, such as Gianni Colombo. When I realized that I had to do something related to art, but I wasn’t an artist, I started working for free at Françoise Lambert, who had a gallery in Milan at that time. During the first 80s we opened an extraordinary exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe, but we didn’t sell anything since photography wasn’t yet considered a rightful artistic media. There was still scepticism about the means and, of course, the subjects of the artist. Another important experience was at the Fonte D’abisso gallery where I worked with modern art, especially avant-garde. After five years spent there I was ready for my own ordeal. As many other colleagues, I started in my flat, which was always in this area. The big change arrived with the exhibition of Roni Horn that I was able to do thanks to the support of some collectors, who have remained with me until today, becoming close friends. After that show I could afford another apartment in the same building – I remember the efforts to move the works from one floor to another – where I opened a project room. I love this part of Milan; I think it is very liveable, so I found this space [ed. via Stradella 7] in the same area. It was a mess, but I saw the prospects, I knew it would become a great art venue: versatile, a bit dark and cosy. Then we went for a brighter space adding via Stradella 1 a few years ago.

So at this point I cannot avoid asking why opening a third space in such a hard period, when everybody seems to leave or wants to leave our country?
I didn’t have the urge to escape from this country so far because I love it deeply. When I feel political and social crisis is getting too deep, I go to see the Scrovegni chapel by Giotto to breathe and gather courage. Italy is a wonderful country with an extraordinary culture, and even if I’m aware of its set of problems I want to try to resist them. I have to say that we are always criticizing ourselves, even though we have excellent collectors who are still interested in art and not just investments. During the years I’ve met a lot of interesting people and I’ve helped them to grow their collections in a reciprocally fruitful way. Art fairs are important to meet new people and to have an international showcase, but everything is fast and superficial there, while the gallery is still a crucial place to meet each other and establish long lasting relationships that need to be nurtured. It’s not just a matter of trade. Of course, market is important, but it is much more than speculation, which I’m not interested in.

What are the characteristics of an artist that make you get into his/her work? How much does “the person” influence your opinion about the artist?
Firstly I fall in love with the work of an artist and I usually follow it for some years, seeing exhibitions, looking for confirmations and affinities between the investigated topics and my artistic path. There are some recurrent themes such as the issue of identity and nature along with a certain sensibility that you can track down in the work of my artists. Of course, it is important to know the artist in person and get closer to him/her, finding the right harmony or a passionate dialogue.

But what about the female figure? Even if you have men in your creative roster, we can see this issue in a lot of your artists…
Yes, you are right. I feel close to women because they are still underestimated, not least from an economical point of view. Just look at Louise Bourgeois, who is one of the most famous and high-priced women, though her works cost less than the ones of less-deserving men. I like the way women work because they don’t have the reliance on power at any cost, typical of hardened men. I can see it clearly in my activity; most of my powerful colleagues are men, but we are not moved from the yearning of control, we just want to do things always better and better.

You work with artists, who handle different media, from photography to installation passing through video etc. Which is the media you feel closer to?
Actually I can tell you which is the less emotional media for me: painting. I’d love to be more involved in it and get closer to a media that up to now I found repetitive and self referential. Well, actually I consider Jessica Stockholder a painter besides being a sculptor because of her strong pictorial value. Anyway, yes, my interests range from photography to video and I also like to encompass different generations, going, for instance, from Joan Jonas to Keren Cytter, to unveil the apparent generational distance. This makes me feel alive!

You’ve been dealing with art for a long time, is there something in the art system, which disappointed you? What do you think about the way this world is changing year by year?
Well, a lot of things changed in 20 years, especially with the arrival of new technologies. I started working in a gallery when we had to write the address for invitations by hand, but I think the most prominent phenomenon of the latest decade is the speculation, which has imposed itself thanks to big auction houses that annex aspects of our field: they arrange auctions, post auctions, cocktail parties etc. with higher resources. Moreover, some art players, like the fairs, get strengthened but also more cynic: except from the hard core of galleries and blockbusters, which generate interest among the viewers, other galleries are a sort of a dressing, which has to be constantly changed to have always-new proposals, like pawls of a selfish machine. It’s not just the management of art world that has changed, look at the education… most of the young people involved in this world are first economist, more interested in financial aspects of art than in its cultural issues, who often enter a gallery or a museum for the first time in their life after graduating.

What’s the show you would love to arrange?
I’d love to arrange an exhibition of all the artists that I loved but I couldn’t work with. Running a gallery means also collecting some failures and missed occasions because maybe you arrive too late. There are so many good artists…

…a name?
Tacita Dean is a great artist and I love her a lot. I would have loved to work with her. I met her during a journey in Iceland with Roni Horn (they are friends), but it was too late, it didn’t make sense at that point. There are so many romances that don’t close in.

Interview by Monica Lombardi – Images courtesy of Agota Lukyte 
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28/07/2014

Guest Interview n°56: Stefano Cumia

The Blogazine met Stefano Cumia (b. 1980, Palermo), one of the most engaging and sophisticated Italian artists of the latest generations, who spoke with us about his artistic path and the reasons behind the new, challenging phase of his career, marked by “SCP 14”, the solo show curated by Helga Marsala currently on view at Rizzuto Gallery in Palermo.

First of all, could you tell us something about your background? When did you understand that being an artist would have been more than a status for you?
The personal story of an artist, the background, is everything people can know about him. People think they know who you are and what you do because they assume they know your roots and, whatever happens, there’s no way of changing their mind about you. Personally I prefer the freedom of leaving things open, nothing has to be taken for granted and nothing is an absolute certainty.

Your artistic path has mainly been characterized by figuration up to this exhibition, which represents and important turning point in your work, what are the reasons that made you change direction?
At the basis of SCP 14 lies the necessity to never give up on changing the internal, commonly accepted, order about the painting matter. It’s a way of reorganizing its syntax through a series of micro-tactical procedures focused on elements that form the object-canvas, making the painting implode, concentrating or pushing it to the edge. Consequently, narrations, evocative titles, iconographic references etc. are dimmed and trapped between the layers to give place to a summary work, an analysis aiming at the painting in itself.

In the collective imagination, painting is associated with the canvas hung on the wall, but during the years we’ve seen the development of an installative painting, which avails itself of devices that alter its perception and fruition (paintings laid on the floor, use of clamps etc.) What do you think about this approach that considers painting as installation?
Despite the collective imagination of painting being attached to the idea of a depicted surface, rectangular in shape and middle-small in size hung on the wall, we have to acknowledge that installative painting has somehow always existed. Just think about the polyptych created by Grunewald for the altar of Isenheim, it’s made of mobile and fixed shutters that change the appearance of the painting each time. Or again, without going too far in the past, look at “Plurimi” by Vedova, the “Cave of antimatter” of Pinot Gallizio, or the work by Kippenberger who took a monochrome by Richter and turned it into a coffee table using a wood-and-metal structure that changes its perception and fruition. I think it’s stupid to consider the segmentation of painting beyond its rectangular boundaries as a pleonasm.

What process lead the creation of the shapes characterizing your latest series of works?
After getting a track from the structure support and delimiting a field of action, I went on to overlap and interchange layers in succession, which ended up connecting and interacting one with another, amounting to these shapes.

Even if apparently the lines of your work seem to be perfect reiterations, they hide faint imperfections and deep differences in the brush strokes and colour intensity. What do these ‘bugs’ represent for you?
Lines are vectors that mark perimeters and cross the layers, which try to capture and hold everything close by them. The speed of lines’ flow determines phenomenon of viscosity or, vice versa, of precipitation and breakage that determine these ‘bugs’, which represent ‘quid’ to me.

Why did you choose to insert pieces of glass and other materials into your works? Is this a homage to informal art?
Actually no, it is not a homage to informal art, I just follow a scheme. The insertion of well-broken glass and other materials is functional and related to a matter of capture and stratification. Adding smashed glass to colour, for instance, helps me to thicken the mixture, making it more viscous, damming pigments and allowing the medium contained in them to split from the rest and overstep the perimeter’s shapes. This capture process enabled the pictorial substances to invade the knits of the bare canvas, stressing the parergon of the framework.

If you should select an artwork and/or an artist, who influenced or struck you in a particular way…
I’m afraid I cannot do it, I always try to screen everything.

…and a place, which inspires you and/or where you would love to live?
Places make no difference, I don’t care, the most important thing is feeling good wherever you are.

Interview by Monica Lombardi 
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21/07/2014

Germany Divided — Baselitz And His Generation

Following the end of the Second World War, Germany undoubtedly developed into a hotbed of artistic talent. Mainly focussing on meaningful and monumental painting and sculpture, German artists reflected on thorny issues of social change raised throughout the then society. The cultural atmosphere of the period – or rather its Zeitgeist – politically and physically divided by the iron curtain is the starting point of the exhibition currently on view at the British Museum rightly entitled .

Georg Baselitz (b. 1938), Markus Lüpertz (b. 1941), Blinky Palermo (1943-1977), AR Penck (b. 1939), Sigmar Polke (1941-2010) and Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) would all move from East to West Germany both before and after the borders were sealed in 1961. This would mark them as key players of an art grown breathing the collective guilt experienced by German people, while living the contrast between Capitalism of “free” West and Communism of the Soviet bloc – a collective cultural spirit which this exhibition aims to retrace.

90 works produced during the 60s and 70s by six artists, who still remain leaders of contemporary art scene, are exhibited here as evidence of the reaction of an artistic generation to the heaviness of its recent past. Without a common stylistic fil rouge, but united by an authentic spirit of sharing and exchange, along with a taste for large scale and a pronounced expressive fervor, each artist developed his own personal language. Half-composed by works on paper and canvas, the peculiar research made by Baselitz, central figure of this show, focuses on a vibrant, provocative, somehow brutal figuration characterized by strong and stylistically extraordinary gestural acts. The artist, who challenged the powerlessness of a certain kind of abstraction by inverting his paintings upside down, is particularly able in objectifying an artwork. His upside down works allowed him to go beyond the subjects and maintain his artistic approach in a period when more cerebral forms of art like abstraction, minimalism and conceptualism were imposing their rules.

Paraphrasing the curator and art historian Sir Norman Rosenthal “every great artist since the Renaissance who has lived a long time – from Titian to Poussin, from Goya and Turner to Cézanne and then Picasso and Munch – has had to find ways to deal with the need for constant reinvention. After a career of almost 50 years, Baselitz still has the capacity to shock and behave unexpectedly, as he succeeds in being both out of his time and profoundly of it.” 34 of the works on display coming from Count Duerckheim’s prestigious collection, have been generously donated to the British Museum. The exhibition runs through August 31st 2014.

Monica Lombardi – Images courtesy of the British Museum 
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