Giovanni Anselmo Verso oltremare in basso a sud e a ovest nord-ovest, in alto a nord-ovest

After having abandoned painting, which had engaged him from 1959 to 1964, Giovanni Anselmo became a successful protagonist of Arte Povera in the second half of the 1960s. Anselmo’s studies elaborated the dialectic between visible and invisible, using industrial and natural elements such as minerals and plants, based on the physical characteristics of the materials. In the installation "Verso oltremare in basso a sud e a ovest nordovest, in alto a nord-ovest", the title also serves as the instructions for composing the work. Once the block of granite has been placed, Anselmo orients himself by a tiny compass set in the stone. "In basso a sud", he paints an ultramarine area the size of the granite, and two identical areas almost opposite, at "ovest nordovest" and "in alto a nord-ovest". With its coordinates, "Verso oltremare" reveals the conditions of the possibility of experience, and reforms the space-time categories in a tension that surpasses the contingency of the place.

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A. Palopoli, Giovanni Anselmo, in P. Colombo, M. Pignatti Morano, S. Vannini, S. Freddo, S. Borsato (eds.), Le Collezioni. Acquisizioni di arte contemporanea. MAXXI-Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, exhibition catalogue (Rome, MAXXI-Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo), Turin 2003, pp. 16-17; 64. A. Viliani, Torino 15 giugno 2006. In conversazione, in G. Maraniello, A. Viliani (eds.), Giovanni Anselmo, exhibition catalogue (Bologna, MAMbo-Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna), Turin 2007, pp. 220-221. C. Christov-Bakargiev, M. Beccaria (eds.), Giovanni Anselmo, exhibition catalogue (Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea), Milan 2016.

Foto Patrizia Tocci

Purchased from Galleria Bernier Eliades, Athens

Installation