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Art

Nanni Balestrini Political Art Retrospective Exhibition Includes Early Computer Works

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CENTER FOR ITALIAN ART ANNOUNCES NEW EXHIBITION: 
NANNI BALESTRINI: ART AS POLITICAL ACTION ONE THOUSAND AND ONE VOICES ON VIEW NOW UNTIL- JUNE 22, 2024
Nanni Balestrini, Cavallo, 1963. Collage on paper. Private collection, courtesy Frittelli arte contemporanea, Florence
(New York, February/March, 2024) – The Center for Italian Modern Art (CIMA) has launched its new exhibition, NANNI BALESTRINI: ART AS POLITICAL ACTION. ONE THOUSAND AND ONE VOICES, curated by Marco Scotini. This is the first retrospective exhibition in the United States of Nanni Balestrini (1935-2019), an Italian experimental visual artist, poet, and novelist known for his revolutionary artistic practice and passionate involvement in the social-political movements of the 1960s and 1970s. 
Born in Milan in 1935, Balestrini was a key protagonist of post-WW2 Italian literary and social avant-garde movements: he approached experimental poetry with a visual sensibility stemming from the artistic use of collage, and with a compositional practice that gave importance to the editing and recombining of existing texts (especially newspapers, magazines, and political slogans) in search for the expression of a collective enunciation.

Nanni Balestrini born July 1935 died May 2019

Nanni Balestrini, 65000 Ètudiants, 1972. Mixed media on panel. Collezione Emilio Mazzoli, Modena
Nanni Balestrini, Cronogramma, 1960s. Collage on paper. Private collection.
He worked side by side with contemporary composers interested in the creative potential of stochastic music and the relationship between computer technology and art. Much of his radical artistic and literary research also developed in dialogue with his participation in the student and workerist movements of the late 1960s and 1970s, and their explosive political charge. Much emphasis has been placed on the exclusively typographical character of writing in Balestrini’s artistic works. This exhibition will instead draw attention to the double acoustic and visual level of Balestrini’s word or, better yet, to what Paolo Fabbri described as its “phonic-optic indiscernibility.”

NANNI BALESTRINI: ART AS POLITICAL ACTION. ONE THOUSAND AND ONE VOICES, curated by Marco Scotini, focuses on two crucial decades in the career of Balestrini, the 1960s and the 1970s. It includes over 70 works by the artist, along with a range of documentary material. The works from the 1960s illustrate a creative phase when Balestrini shared research interests with Luigi Nono, one of the most important 20th-century experimental composers, and when the neo-avant garde literary movement Gruppo 63 was also founded. The creative relationship between Balestrini and Nono lasted an entire decade, and the exhibition sheds light on the search for the disalienation of the word pursued by both, as well as on their use of technology as a way to seize and subvert the means of industrial production and explore their artistic potential.

The final works in the exhibition date back to the late 1970s; some of them were conceived in connection with a poem dedicated to the New York City electricity blackout of 1977. Planned as an “action for voice” to be performed by Greek-Italian lyricist and vocal experimenter Demetrio Stratos in May 1979, the work was never performed due to the premature death of Stratos and Balestrini’s indictment surrounding the political movement Autonomia Operaia.

The exhibition also includes a reconstruction of Balestrini’s Tape Mark I (1961), one of the earliest examples of computer-generated art. A combinatory poem produced by an algorithm written in the Unix programming language on a massive IBM mainframe computer, Tape Mark I anticipates many of the contemporary questions surrounding Artificial Intelligence, and was featured in the 1962 edition of the Bompiani Literary Almanac, which was dedicated to “the application of computers to ethics and literature”, a theme of utmost relevance today. 

To provide context to Balestrini’s work, the show features a selection of early words-in-freedom works by Futurist artist Carlo Carrà, a form of avantgarde visual poetry that liberated words and letters from the conventions of grammar and syntax, making them part of visual and performative compositions. This technique was co-opted by the Italian Neoavanguardia in the 1960s, due to the revolutionary potential of the early Futurist movement.
NANNI BALESTRINI: ART AS POLITICAL ACTION. ONE THOUSAND AND ONE VOICES is on view at CIMA (421 Broome Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10013) from February 22nd – June 22nd, 2024. See visiting hours below. 

Python reconstruction of 1961 electronic poem “TAPE MARK 1”

Nanni Balestrini, Giornale di bordo (La partita a carte), 1964. Collage on paper. Private collection, Mirano (Venezia)
CIMA OPEN HOURS: • Friday and Saturday: 11am to 6pm with guided tours at 11am and 2pm (last entry at 5pm)• Members-only hours: Monday-Thursday by appointment• General admission: $15usd for guided tours; $10usd for open hours• Members & students: free
ABOUT CIMA:Founded in 2013, CIMA is a public non-profit dedicated to presenting modern and contemporary Italian art to international audiences. Through critically acclaimed exhibitions—many of them bringing work to U.S. audiences for the first time—along with a wide variety of public programs and substantial support for new scholarship awarded through its international fellowship program, CIMA situates Italian modern art in an expansive historic and cultural context, illuminating its continuing relevance to contemporary culture and serving as an incubator of curatorial ideas for larger cultural institutions. CIMA works to add new voices to scholarship on modern Italian art with annual fellowships that open fresh perspectives and new avenues of research. A visit begins with a complimentary espresso, followed by an informal exhibition tour with one of the resident fellows. Visitors are welcome to linger for additional viewing and conversation.

ABOUT CURATOR MARCO SCOTINI: Marco Scotini is an art critic and curator. He currently is artistic director of FM Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea in Milan, a center specializing in the preservation and enhancement of private collections, artists’ archives and the promotion of contemporary art. Since 2004, he has been director of the Department of Visual Arts at Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti of Milan and Rome. He is scientific director of the Gianni Colombo Archive, the Bert Theis Archive, the Clemen Parrocchetti Archive and the Nanni Balestrini Archive. Since 2014, he has been responsible for the exhibition program of PAV- Parco Arte Vivente in Turin. He was artistic director of the 2nd Yinchuan Biennale in 2018 and was a member of the Italian Council from 2019 to 2021. He has curated exhibitions for leading national and international art institutions, including the Albanian pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2015), three editions of the Prague Biennale (2003, 2005, 2007), Anren Biennale (2017), 2nd Yinchuan Biennale (2018) and was advisor for Bangkok Biennale (2020 and 2022). He took part in the 17th Istanbul Biennale (2022) and the BETA Timișoara Biennale (2022). He has been part of the project TV Politics at documenta 14 (2017). Scotini’s project Disobedience Archive is part of the 60th Mostra Internazionale d’Arte della Biennale di Venezia (2024), curated by Adriano Pedrosa.
Art

Icons Masked In League Of Wrestling Paintings

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The League of Wrestling Mask Portraits is a growing body of work, undertaken in 2023, by realist painter, Richard Delaney. The work is a satirical, Pop Art-style, examination of the famous and controversial people of our time, such as Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, Elon Musk, and Greta Thunberg. Delaney paints their approximately, life-size portraits, in an unconventional manner. Politicians and celebrities are depicted wearing personalized wrestling masks (as in professional wrestling, aka Lucha Libra, often referred to as Mexican wrestling masks). They wear their masks as if ready to battle/wrestle in the social and political ring.  

Each mask is customized for the individual wearer with clues to their identity imbedded in the design.

The symbolic clues help the viewer identify the person when the facial features alone are not enough. For example, the design of Greta Thunberg’s mask reflects her climate activism. Yellow flame-patterned, patches, around her eyes, nose, and mouth, rise up to symbolically melt what appears to be an ice cap on the top of her head, causing melt-water to flow into the blue, ocean-like area of the mask, covering her face. The dominant colours, light blue and yellow, reference Thunberg’s country, Sweden, and its flag.     

Delaney’s paintings in oil and acrylic are garish, bombastic, and humorous. They are fresh and contemporary while being reminiscent of 1960’s Pop Art. The visual aesthetic is like a combination of cartoon, realistic painting, and or photo collage. The mask component has a hint of vintage, comic book art, and pulp art illustration. In contrast, the facial features of the subjects are rendered in a somewhat, photorealistic style.

Conceptually, the League of Wrestling Mask Portraits, is very much Pop Art, and may have roots in the work of Warhol.

Both artists use mass media as a reservoir of ideas. They each present the concept of fame and celebrity in a uniquely identifiable style. There is no doubt that the ‘mask’ in Delaney’s work is simultaneously a visual brand, and a concept to be pondered.  

    

Delaney has coined the terms “maskified” and “maskification,” to describe his portraits. The maskified portraits cannot be viewed without some consideration for the basic idea and purpose of a mask, that is, to conceal true identity, and or to project a persona. The maskification of Donald Trump, for example, in a red mask with gold trim and crown, draws a comparison to classic comic book superheroes or villains, depending on one’s political stance. The connection with Mascaras de Lucha Libra is of course, intentional, and it is this simple juxtaposition that makes the work visually and intellectually, compelling.        

Delaney plans to produce a large collection of portraits by the end of 2024.

Ultimately, he imagines them displayed and for sale in a contemporary art gallery. For the time being, they are available to view on social media in the form of humorous reels and videos. There are many potential subjects that Delaney would like to paint, including, for example, Dylan Mulvaney, Joe Rogan, Kamala Harris, King Charles, Pierre Poilievre, and Jordan Peterson. Who do you think should be maskified? You can make suggestions by following Delaney on social media where he will be frequently unveiling new paintings for his League of Wrestling Mask Portraits. 

Art

20th Century Masters: Picasso’s Guernica

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“Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth” –Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) was one of the most well-known artists of the 20th century. Throughout his long and prolific career, Picasso both innovated and participated in important artistic movements such as realism, cubism and surrealism.  In comparison to Vincent van Gogh, the infamous starving artist, Picasso was one of the first modern artists to achieve great wealth and celebrity in his lifetime.

Possibly the most important work that Picasso produced was Guernica (1937).

This large scale black and white mural (approximately 12 x 26 feet), was commissioned for the Spanish Pavilion in the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris and was completed by Picasso in under a month.  In it, the artist depicted a catastrophic incident from the Spanish Civil War, wherein the Nazis conducted carpet bombing experiments on the town of Guernica, in the Basque region of Spain.

File:Guernica at the Whitechapel - geograph.org.uk - 1593698.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Historically, Spain had been ruled by a monarchy up until the 1930s, at which time it was replaced by a republican government that promised social and economic reform and a redistribution of goods and land.  Spanish conservatives disliked this idea and headed by General Francisco Franco, they launched an insurrection that led to the Spanish Civil War.  Aided by the Fascists and Nazis, General Franco assumed dictatorship of the country and ruled until his death in 1975.

During this time of turmoil, Picasso was not in Spain but working in Paris.

This is important to note when considering his choice of palette. He would have been paying attention to the events taking place in his native country largely through newspapers, transforming the black and white newsreel into a large scale canvas.  Also, by choosing a dichromatic colour scheme, Picasso allowed the subject matter to stand out over colour.

Prominently positioned in this work is the Minotaur (a half-bull/half-man monster), an important symbol for Spanish people representing the tyranny of General Franco and his Nazi and Fascist supporters. Picasso  used distortion in the imagery and figures to portray the horrors and suffering of innocent civilians massacred by the carpet bombing. This, in combination with the palette, evokes in the viewer the sensation of a stark nightmare, tying the work to the surrealist movement.

On a final note, Picasso was adamant that this work not be displayed in Spain until democracy was restored.

On loan to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Guernica was returned to Spain in 1981. For the Silo, Eve Yantha.