.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Con l’alternarsi di una distesa di punte e avvallamenti bianchi, Superficie bianca (1990) diviene un esempio incontaminato delle rivoluzionarie Superfici realizzate da Enrico Castellani. Con l’obiettivo di colmare il divario tra pittura, scultura e architettura, queste opere nascono dalla stesura della tela su un reticolo di chiodi posizionati ritmicamente: si è data così vita alla creazione di oggetti unici e autodefiniti che vengono attivati dalla vibrazione della luce e dell’ombra. Nate alla fine degli anni Cinquanta e rigorosamente portate avanti nei cinque decenni successivi, le Superfici sono l’elegante soluzione materiale dell’artista alla richiesta di un’arte basata esclusivamente sull’interazione tra spazio, tempo e luminosità. Questo nuovo concetto pittorico fu pubblicato per la prima volta nella rivista Azimuth, fondata a Milano nel 1959 insieme a Piero Manzoni, e trae ispirazione dalla riflessione di Lucio Fontana sullo spazio inesplorato intorno alla tela che si concretizza con il gesto rivoluzionario dei suoi Tagli. L’arte, in questo nuovo paradigma, non si limita più ad atti di rappresentazione su una base materiale: è il supporto stesso a divenire parte integrante dell’opera d’arte, fungendo da strumento che rivela le forze elementari che impattano la percezione visiva.
With its pure, undulating expanse of white peaks and troughs, Superficie bianca (1990) is a pristine example of Enrico Castellani’s ground-breaking Superfici, or ‘Surfaces’. Bridging the gap between painting, sculpture and architecture, these works were made by stretching canvas over a grid of rhythmically-placed nails, creating unique, self-defining objects activated by the vibration of light and shadow. Initiated during the late 1950s, and rigorously pursued over the next five decades, the Superfici were Castellani’s elegant material solution to his call for an art based solely on the interplay between space, time and luminosity. First voiced in the magazine Azimuth that he founded in Milan with Piero Manzoni in 1959, this new pictorial concept drew inspiration from Lucio Fontana’s appeal to the unexplored space around the canvas, as embodied by the revolutionary slashed surfaces of his Tagli. ‘Art’, in this new paradigm, was no longer confined to acts of representation upon a material support: rather, the support itself became part and parcel of the art object, acting as a conduit for revealing the elemental forces that impact visual perception.
With its pure, undulating expanse of white peaks and troughs, Superficie bianca (1990) is a pristine example of Enrico Castellani’s ground-breaking Superfici, or ‘Surfaces’. Bridging the gap between painting, sculpture and architecture, these works were made by stretching canvas over a grid of rhythmically-placed nails, creating unique, self-defining objects activated by the vibration of light and shadow. Initiated during the late 1950s, and rigorously pursued over the next five decades, the Superfici were Castellani’s elegant material solution to his call for an art based solely on the interplay between space, time and luminosity. First voiced in the magazine Azimuth that he founded in Milan with Piero Manzoni in 1959, this new pictorial concept drew inspiration from Lucio Fontana’s appeal to the unexplored space around the canvas, as embodied by the revolutionary slashed surfaces of his Tagli. ‘Art’, in this new paradigm, was no longer confined to acts of representation upon a material support: rather, the support itself became part and parcel of the art object, acting as a conduit for revealing the elemental forces that impact visual perception.