Page 55 - Studio International - January 1968

solution uses forms that remain what they always
were, this second solution uses forms that always
and only function in relation to one another. By
themselves they make no sense. Perhaps they allude
to a meaning they themselves do not contain. The
meaning comes from the inter-relationships of the
various elements that indicate the direction or
directions of the appropriate readings. This genre
of painting is concerned with the problem of the
linguistic make-up of figuration and the establish-
1nent of relationships between its various parts in
function of a synthetic organization. It has been
more or less defined by the show entitled 'Towards
a Cold Poetic Image' (at GALLERIA SCHWARZ,
Milan), and unites the values of the image with
the possibility of intellectual analysis through the
relationships of its elements. In the work of
Cavaliere and Baruchello (who draws figures on
layers of superimposed perspex) this reading takes
place in terms of space. With Simonetti, it takes
place in terms of time (sequences and combinations
in relation to scores of mute music).
Cavaliere, for example, has at his disposal a
natural spatial subdivision offered by the resistance
of matter. Little by little the similarities and differ­
ences between the ways in which matter functions
reveal themselves. A tree split down the middle is
juxtaposed to an apple split in half; both are
reAected in a mirroring base. And it is only after
understanding the analogues that transform the Abo Umberto Bignardi Rotor-vision 1967
splitting of the tree into the apple and vice versa Mixed media, 31 in.
that one captures the object's poetic image. The Galleria Rome
world is a body of facts, not a body of things. Thus
it is clear that things exist in the dimensions in Right Pistoletto Scala 1966
Paper on steel, 90 in.
which they function. They are a relationship. But S Turin
how many operations of addition, multiplication
and combination can an ordinary man handle Facing pag Alik Cavaliere L'albero 1967
before reaching the threshold of saturation, before Bronze and steel, 27 in.
the welter of images becomes 'white noise'? Elec­ Galleria Milan
tronic brains can give us all the combinations; Photo : Ugo Mulas
what they can't give is a combination that can
provide a basis for the creation of new and differ­
ent conditions. This can only come through a leap
of the imagination. And this is what account for
the need lo push back the threshold of perception
and increase the possibilities for making and seeing
juxtapositions and combinations. This work is
experimental in the sense that it cannot rely on
already-defined categories of art, nor even on cate­
gories of sensation and perception. Our way of
seeing the world is not direct. Even when we do not
realize it, it is the reflection of our culture-the
reAection of the way in which things have been
seen for centuries. In Italy, the traditions of response formed into psychomotor activity.
figuration, like those of religion, are overwhelm­ in action. How then are we to react when art doesn't
ingly strong. So much more the reason, then, to The first tendency is represented by artists like transform things but simply presents them as they
subject every operation and activity to analysis Scheggi, Alviani, Colombo, and Bonalumi, who are? Should one react or simply contemplate?
and reconsideration. Every work mediates between tend to organize the perceptions of space, light, Roman painting is a return to the matriarchy-the
the exigencies of the culture and the responses of colour and sign, or the sensations of heat and cold, myth of nature presented exactly as it is, without
the senses. Each work is not so much an experience opaque and transparent, according to mathe­ translation. With Ceroli it's the roughness of the
as a J1roposal for an experience- a proposal that matical and geometric modules that stimulate wood; with Pascali, earth and water as the ele­
furnishes the perceptual and mental instruments psycho-physical alterations in the environment by ments of alchemy; with Kounellis, love for fire and
that help to realize the experience. ln terms of this means of repetition and movement. They are the forms of natural life-birds, plants, and
attitude, there are two ways of working. The first abandoning the canvas in favour of the environ­ Aowers. 'Fire, Image, Water and Earth' was the
deals with perception: the important thing is to ment, moving from decorative optical illusion to title of an exhibition in which these artists appeared
learn to discriminate between perceptions. The psycho-physical disturbances that function as a together; it shows that their point of contact is in
second elaborates the message didactically: here, norm and demand a response- of acceptance, their materials. The forms can be approached
the importance of a work lies in its capacity to habituation, or revulsion. Physical reality is trans- through Pop art themes (Ceroli), through geo-
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