Michelangelo Pistoletto Quadro di fili elettrici

cm 268 x 440

Son of an artist and a restorer, Michelangelo Pistoletto passed his youth in his father’s studio. At eighteen, he moved to Turin to frequent an advertising course at the Armando Testa studio. He debuted in the 1950s with a series of paintings – mainly self-portraits. At the beginning of the following decade, he began to work on the “mirror paintings” where a photographic print on tissue paper was applied to a polished stainless steel support. The "Quadro di fili elettrici" was conceived and realized for the personal exhibition held in the Galleria Sperone of Turin, (December 1967-January 1968). The exhibition originally focused on a single work, "Pietra miliare", but on the last day of the show Pistoletto made and displayed other works, including "Quadro di fili elettrici", to fill the gallery spaces that remained empty. Together with other works of the same period – Riflessi sul muro, Le candele and Tenda di lampadine – "Quadro di fili elettrici" was a statement about light, originated by common daily objects despite the disturbing effect of the low position of the light source.

No

A. Imponente (ed.), Michelangelo Pistoletto, exhibition catalogue (Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna), Milan 1990. G. Celant, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Milan 1992. M. Farano, M.C. Mundici, M.T. Roberto, Michelangelo Pistoletto. Il varco dello specchio. Azioni e collaborazioni 1967/2004, Turin 2005; C. Basualdo (ed.), Michelangelo Pistoletto. Da uno a molti 1956-1974, exhibition catalogue (Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Rome, MAXXI-Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo), Milan 2011. G. Di Pietrantonio (ed.), Michelangelo Pistoletto. Immagini in più, Oggetti in meno, un paradiso ancora, exhibition catalogue (Bergamo, GAMeCGalleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea), Bergamo 2016.

Foto Patrizia Tocci

Purchased from Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella

Installation