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Lot Essay
Painted in 1980, Alberto Burri's Cellotex features expanses of black and vivid red which dominate the abstract composition, shown reflecting the light in different ways according to the texture of the picture surface. This picture, which was obtained by the present owner directly from the artist, forms a part of a series of paintings largely referred to by the same name, Cellotex, reflecting Burri's rigorous discipline in titling his works. After all, this work comprises - and celebrates - Cellotex, a form of wood-fibre board. This humble material, which is used in construction and for insulation, has here been brought into the traditional arena of painting. Burri has covered the surface in an abstract red and black design that recalls some of his formative early paintings. And crucially, Burri appears to have returned to the traditional methods of painting in this work. Rather than substituting colour with sackcloth or plastic, and rather than replacing the strokes with stitching or burning, he has returned to the use of paint and brush in order to create this impressive work, in which the red appears to shimmer with intensity against the dominant black, thrusting it into a visual relief that is enhanced by the variegated textures.
In returning to more traditional painting techniques, Burri had come full circle: having originally based some of his first Sacchi on compositions from his early paintings, he was now returning to that discipline. However, he retained the innovative edge and the inquisitive probing of the nature of his materials by playing with the texture of the surface. In this way, Burri has created a series of disruptions that allow the viewer to question the nature of paint and the nature of Cellotex alike. While much of the composition is black, there is a variety in the finishes that the black areas achieve. There is a complex, changeable play of light that allows Burri to highlight the properties of his media, and crucially of his support. Indeed, the two are, as was the case in his autonomous Sacchi, inseparable. This internal dynamic within the composition is lent an extra impetus by the glowing red that occupies so much of the lower left of Cellotex.
Burri's Cellotex series managed to combine pioneering techniques with the doctrine of non-representational self-containment that had defined so much of his oeuvre throughout the decades. Meanwhile its appearance recalls the collage-like compositions of his Cellotex, especially those early ones which themselves had been based on his paintings. Cellotex therefore taps into this complex dialogue, in which Burri has explored the nature of painting itself.
In returning to more traditional painting techniques, Burri had come full circle: having originally based some of his first Sacchi on compositions from his early paintings, he was now returning to that discipline. However, he retained the innovative edge and the inquisitive probing of the nature of his materials by playing with the texture of the surface. In this way, Burri has created a series of disruptions that allow the viewer to question the nature of paint and the nature of Cellotex alike. While much of the composition is black, there is a variety in the finishes that the black areas achieve. There is a complex, changeable play of light that allows Burri to highlight the properties of his media, and crucially of his support. Indeed, the two are, as was the case in his autonomous Sacchi, inseparable. This internal dynamic within the composition is lent an extra impetus by the glowing red that occupies so much of the lower left of Cellotex.
Burri's Cellotex series managed to combine pioneering techniques with the doctrine of non-representational self-containment that had defined so much of his oeuvre throughout the decades. Meanwhile its appearance recalls the collage-like compositions of his Cellotex, especially those early ones which themselves had been based on his paintings. Cellotex therefore taps into this complex dialogue, in which Burri has explored the nature of painting itself.