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拍品专文
In Bianco plastica B 2, a bar of black dominates the composition, standing out against its white background. Executed in 1967, this work was created by Alberto Burri using fire and plastic rather than paint, revealing his innovative approach to art making. In lieu of brushwork, Burri has charred and scarred the plastic, singeing it, creating a textured strip of darkness that creates a vivid contrast with the background. At the same time, tendrils of smoke and dust appear to have licked the clear plastic at the edges, meaning that the surface becomes more dynamic, adding an almost painterly quality to its appearance and making it seem more gestural.
The wisps of smoke which appear to have been fossilised in the grey and black zones that emanate from the black strip that traverses the picture surface in Bianco plastica B 2 are records of Burri's creative process, and also of the chemical and physical reactions that underpinned them. They are poetic shards of reality, evidence of the flickers of flame that initially brought this work into being. They trap and enclose that fleeting moment within the very fabric of the work, lending it a perhaps unexpected lyricism. They also result in a more variegated surface: rather than the strict contrast between black and white, there are fronds of grey, streaks of brown, and even within the central zone, hints of warm, golden colour that recall, perhaps, the paintings of Pierre Soulages. There is a sense of the still-smouldering embers existing within Bianco plastica B 2.
Burri's skills in manipulating his material, even when using such a volatile technique as burning it, were all the more impressive in that he was able to create compositions that showed an innate balance, as is the case in Bianco plastica B 2. Indeed, this work appears similar to the Abstract Expressionist works of Franz Kline, a master of carefully-composed composition. However, where Kline used the brush and oils, Burri has turned to fire and plastic. The use of the plastic in particular is telling: there is none of the grandiosity of some of Burri's contemporaries. Instead, he is rehabilitating this humble, industrial material; indeed, he is allowing it to infiltrate the rarefied world of art. 'I chose to use poor materials to prove that they could still be useful,' he explained. 'The poorness of a medium is not a symbol: it is a device for painting' (Burri, quoted in Alberto Burri: A Retrospective View 1948-77, exh. cat., Los Angeles, 1977, p. 72). In his hands, the disposable is thus salvaged and then granted a new dignity.
The wisps of smoke which appear to have been fossilised in the grey and black zones that emanate from the black strip that traverses the picture surface in Bianco plastica B 2 are records of Burri's creative process, and also of the chemical and physical reactions that underpinned them. They are poetic shards of reality, evidence of the flickers of flame that initially brought this work into being. They trap and enclose that fleeting moment within the very fabric of the work, lending it a perhaps unexpected lyricism. They also result in a more variegated surface: rather than the strict contrast between black and white, there are fronds of grey, streaks of brown, and even within the central zone, hints of warm, golden colour that recall, perhaps, the paintings of Pierre Soulages. There is a sense of the still-smouldering embers existing within Bianco plastica B 2.
Burri's skills in manipulating his material, even when using such a volatile technique as burning it, were all the more impressive in that he was able to create compositions that showed an innate balance, as is the case in Bianco plastica B 2. Indeed, this work appears similar to the Abstract Expressionist works of Franz Kline, a master of carefully-composed composition. However, where Kline used the brush and oils, Burri has turned to fire and plastic. The use of the plastic in particular is telling: there is none of the grandiosity of some of Burri's contemporaries. Instead, he is rehabilitating this humble, industrial material; indeed, he is allowing it to infiltrate the rarefied world of art. 'I chose to use poor materials to prove that they could still be useful,' he explained. 'The poorness of a medium is not a symbol: it is a device for painting' (Burri, quoted in Alberto Burri: A Retrospective View 1948-77, exh. cat., Los Angeles, 1977, p. 72). In his hands, the disposable is thus salvaged and then granted a new dignity.