Mario Schifano ^©  

(1934 - 1998)

Provenance:
Galleria La Nuvola Arte, as per certificate;
Galleria Don Quixote, Rome;
Private collection, Rome

Exhibitions:
Black and White, Galleria La Nuvola, Rome, from June 10th to July 10th 2009, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue on p. 58

Artwork registered at the Archivio Mario Schifano, edited by Monica Schifano, Rome, with number 01419090207, as per certificate issued on 13 March 2009

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Together with Tano Festa, Franco Angeli and Mimmo Rotella, Mario Schifano (Homs, 1934 - Roma, 1998) is one of the main artists in the panorama of Italian and European Pop Art. It was the main point of reference for all the art that will be produced later.

The 60s are undoubtedly the most revolutionary for the production of the great Italian artist. It is 1964 when Schifano, just thirty, realizes the enamel on paper presented here. The work consists of two white backgrounds, made with a glaze spread unevenly on the paper, to form two squares well distributed behind which you can see printed words. The brushstrokes are fast and full-bodied, without any intention of homogeneity in the final result.

The work is part of the strand of monochromes executed in the 60s and characterized by a zero surface painting, which sanctioned the success of the artist, In this period of his artistic production Schifano, has always been inspired by billboards and urban signage, reworks street graphics making the work assume the configuration of a screen through which to project your idea of painting, free from the rules of the past.

"I thought painting meant starting from something absolutely primary... ; the first pictures only yellow with inside nothing, empty images, did not want to say anything. They went there, or here, of any cultural intention. They wanted to be themselves... make a yellow picture was just making a yellow picture". (Interview to Mario Schifano by E.Siciliano, "Il Mondo", November 16th 1972").