Antonio Scaccabarozzi's Four Decades of Painting at Museo del Novecento
At the Museo del Novecento in Milan, the exhibition 'Progettare, sconfinare' showcases the work of Antonio Scaccabarozzi (Merate, 1936 – Santa Maria Hoè, 2008), reflecting on his four-decade journey through visual language. Curator Gabi Scardi emphasizes Scaccabarozzi's exploration of perception and the interaction between artwork and viewer. His notable pieces include 'Superficie sensibilizzata' (1966) and 'Gioco sul quadrato' (1969), which feature modular grids and protruding cylinders. 'Positivo-negativo' (1973) incorporates yellow-punctured supports, while 'Introduzione all'orizzontale' (1978) displays diverse perforations. Later works, such as '200 mg' (1982), abstract perception, and extreme creations like 'Essenziale con ombre pittoriche' (1991) treat color as a physical entity. In the late 1990s, he transitioned to polyethylene, leading to installations with translucent curtains and the 'Velature' series.
Key facts
- Antonio Scaccabarozzi (1936–2008) is the subject of the exhibition 'Progettare, sconfinare' at Museo del Novecento, Milan.
- The show surveys over forty years of his work analyzing the constituent elements of art through visual language syntax.
- Curator Gabi Scardi describes his painting as a reflection on perception, reality, and the artwork-viewer relationship.
- Early work 'Superficie sensibilizzata' (1966) uses a modular grid of lines in gray tones.
- 'Gioco sul quadrato' (1969) features protruding cylinders that vary in diameter like musical crescendos and diminuendos.
- 'Positivo-negativo' (1973) has a yellow-punctured support that opens into circular fissures.
- 'Introduzione all'orizzontale' (1978) presents rows of perforations spaced at varying intervals.
- In '200 mg' (1982), a brushstroke is repositioned based on paint weight, not morphology.
- Late works like 'Essenziale con ombre pittoriche' (1991) and 'Altezza d'uomo' (1992) create self-supporting paint reliefs.
- In the late 1990s, he adopted polyethylene as a medium, creating geometrically shaped chromatic sheets.
- His final phase includes environmental installations with polyethylene curtains and the 'Velature' series of layered monochromes.
Entities
Artists
- Antonio Scaccabarozzi
- Gabi Scardi
- Alberto Mugnaini
Institutions
- Museo del Novecento
- Archivio Antonio Scaccabarozzi
- Artribune
Locations
- Milano
- Italy
- Merate
- Santa Maria Hoè