Gianfranco Baruchello's Early Works Shine in Milan Exhibition

MASSIMODECARLO gallery in Milan presents 'Primo Alfabeto', a museum-quality exhibition of 22 works by Gianfranco Baruchello (1924-2023), created between 1959 and 1963. Curated by Carla Subrizi and Maria Alicata, the show focuses on the artist's early conceptual phase, a year after his death. Baruchello, active in Rome's late 1950s avant-garde scene alongside artists like Cy Twombly and Pino Pascali, developed a personal alphabet of 'pre-images'—stylized silhouettes of objects. The exhibition traces his evolution from 'Primo Alfabeto' (1959-1962) through 'Elementi alfabetici' (1960-1961) and 'Insieme di personaggi' (1960-1961), where forms overlap with industrial and human elements. A pivotal year was 1962, when Baruchello met Marcel Duchamp in Milan and Leo Castelli and Ileana Sonnabend in Paris. Sonnabend connected him to Sidney Janis Gallery in New York and Galerie du Cercle in Paris. His first solo show at Galleria La Tartaruga in Rome in 1963 featured object-sculptures, including 'Wishing them all very merry incarnations II' (1962), where newspapers are hidden under white paint. Another highlight, 'Grande Palomar' (1962), marks a shift toward abstract forms and anticipates Italo Calvino's novel 'Palomar' (1983). The exhibition underscores Baruchello's interdisciplinary and prophetic vision.