Aurelio Amendola's Photographs of Burri, Vedova, and Nitsch at Fondazione Vedova

The Fondazione Emilio e Annabianca Vedova in Venice presents an exhibition of photographs by Aurelio Amendola (Pistoia, 1938), focusing on three artists: Alberto Burri (Città di Castello, 1915 – Nice, 1995), Emilio Vedova (Venice, 1919 – 2006), and Hermann Nitsch (Vienna, 1938 – Mistelbach, 2022). The show features twenty-three large-format analog prints alongside three works: Burri's Plastica M1 (1962), Vedova's Non Dove/Breccia 1988 III (op. 1 – op. 2) (1988), and Nitsch's 18b.malakton (1986), plus a film. Curated by Bruno Corà, the installation offers a new reading of Amendola's six-decade career. The images capture the artists in action: Burri attacking supports with a blowtorch in Città di Castello, Vedova working on suspended round surfaces with stick brushes in the same space as the exhibition, and Nitsch using sponges, buckets, and brooms on canvases at Prinzendorf Castle. The text draws a parallel to Jackson Pollock's 'Jack the Dripper' performance, linking the artists' full-body engagement to earlier avant-garde movements like Dada at Cabaret Voltaire and Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty. Amendola, now 86, is renowned for his Renaissance sculpture photography but has documented contemporary artists since the 1950s, including de Chirico, Pomodoro, Schifano, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Marini, Vangi, Kounellis, Pistoletto, and Paladino.