MarioSCHIFANO
Mario Schifano 1964-1970. Dal paesaggio alla TV
02.2006–03.2006
Mario Schifano 1964-1970. Dal paesaggio alla TV
02.2006–03.2006
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Mario Schifano, Installation view, Dal paesaggio alla TV, Fondazione Marconi, Milan, 2006
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Mario Schifano
Albero: quadro per l’autunno, 1964
Enamel on canvas
200 x 200 cm
Albero: quadro per l’autunno, 1964
Enamel on canvas
200 x 200 cm
Press Release
Schifano 1964-1970
Dal paesaggio alla TV
Opening: February 23, 2006
February 24 – March 30, 2006
Dal paesaggio alla TV
Opening: February 23, 2006
February 24 – March 30, 2006
The exhibition curated by Giorgio Marconi, director of the Marconi Foundation and expert of Mario Schifano's work, will include a hundred works from 1964-1970 coming from important private and pubblic collections, among which the GAM, Turin, and the CSAC - Parma University.
The collaboration between Giorgio Marconi and Mario Schifano dates back to the early Sixties.
Studio Marconi's opening exhibition in November 1965 included Mario Schifano together with Valerio Adami, Lucio Del Pezzo and Emilio Tadini.
True Love was the title of Schifano’s first solo exhibition, again at Marconi’s, in December 1965, soon followed by others: Inventario con anima e senza anima (November 1966), Tuttestelle (October 1967), Compagni, compagni (December 1968) and Paesaggi TV (December 1970).
Schifano's work belongs among the artistic currents tied to a new objectivity focusing on the image and impact of the city and the man-made environment in which the relationship with the world is mediated by the mass media (movies, signals, cartoons, advertising).
The painter realised before others that the artist's task is a critical acceptance of the new instruments, set to become an emblem of pop art made in the USA, and that he had to prevent them from becoming the ultimate “end” of his own artistic expression.
Schifano's work developed in thematic cycles: after the monochromes, the advertising signs, the details of urban landscape the Paesaggi anemici followed together with Futurismo rivisitato, Tuttestelle, Compagni, compagni, Paesaggi TV.
The landscape portrayed in Paesaggi anemici is just a memory, an invention as is also the idea of opening a door, a window onto the surface of the painted sky.
The collaboration between Giorgio Marconi and Mario Schifano dates back to the early Sixties.
Studio Marconi's opening exhibition in November 1965 included Mario Schifano together with Valerio Adami, Lucio Del Pezzo and Emilio Tadini.
True Love was the title of Schifano’s first solo exhibition, again at Marconi’s, in December 1965, soon followed by others: Inventario con anima e senza anima (November 1966), Tuttestelle (October 1967), Compagni, compagni (December 1968) and Paesaggi TV (December 1970).
Schifano's work belongs among the artistic currents tied to a new objectivity focusing on the image and impact of the city and the man-made environment in which the relationship with the world is mediated by the mass media (movies, signals, cartoons, advertising).
The painter realised before others that the artist's task is a critical acceptance of the new instruments, set to become an emblem of pop art made in the USA, and that he had to prevent them from becoming the ultimate “end” of his own artistic expression.
Schifano's work developed in thematic cycles: after the monochromes, the advertising signs, the details of urban landscape the Paesaggi anemici followed together with Futurismo rivisitato, Tuttestelle, Compagni, compagni, Paesaggi TV.
The landscape portrayed in Paesaggi anemici is just a memory, an invention as is also the idea of opening a door, a window onto the surface of the painted sky.
In this period Schifano's interest for cinema and photography was increasing, and led to compositions like When I remember Giacomo Balla (1965), and Suicidio (1965) that evoked Matisse' opened window.
From the same period are Vero amore o Albero, where the tree – absolute protagonist at the centre of the painting – clearly refers to the Battesimo by Piero della Francesca.
Futurismo rivisitato is based on the well-known photograph of the Futurist group taken in Paris in 1912, while in Tuttestelle (1967) spray-painted stars evoke childhood memories, and Schifano began his use of transparent or coloured Perspex sheets to create original veiling effects.
Compagni, compagni (1968) was inspired by the political events of the day and based on a photograph of Chinese workers or students bearing a hammer and sickle, which Schifano transformed into a media icon.
In Paesaggi TV (1970) images taken from the television screen have been isolated from their context, elaborated with touches of nitroaniline colour and displayed on emulsified canvas, paper or film.
From the same period are Vero amore o Albero, where the tree – absolute protagonist at the centre of the painting – clearly refers to the Battesimo by Piero della Francesca.
Futurismo rivisitato is based on the well-known photograph of the Futurist group taken in Paris in 1912, while in Tuttestelle (1967) spray-painted stars evoke childhood memories, and Schifano began his use of transparent or coloured Perspex sheets to create original veiling effects.
Compagni, compagni (1968) was inspired by the political events of the day and based on a photograph of Chinese workers or students bearing a hammer and sickle, which Schifano transformed into a media icon.
In Paesaggi TV (1970) images taken from the television screen have been isolated from their context, elaborated with touches of nitroaniline colour and displayed on emulsified canvas, paper or film.