Carla Accardi's Poetic Affinities Explored at Francesca Minini

The exhibition 'Scrivere con il colore' at Francesca Minini in Milan, curated by Lorenzo Benedetti, delves into the symbiotic relationship between Carla Accardi's visual art and poetry. Accardi (1924–2014) maintained a lifelong practice of transcribing verses from poet friends into notebooks, using them as titles and inspirations for her works. The show features pieces from the 1980s onward, including 'Parentesi n.1' and 'Parentesi n.3', where signs emerge from concentric waves on raw canvas. 'Soli impigliati in frange e lappole' (1997) borrows a line from Andrea Zanzotto's IX Ecloghe, displaying a more immediate, calligraphic execution. 'Luce crescente' (1997) presents interlocking curved and straight shapes like a mosaic of gears. The highlight is 'Fregio' (2004), a frieze of fifteen panels corresponding to verses by Valentino Zeichen, rendered in black ink as abstract ideograms on paper. The exhibition underscores Accardi's influence beyond painting, touching Arte Povera, Graffitism, and feminist discourse.