Gianfranco Baruchello's Enduring Practice Showcased in Mayfair Exhibition

Gianfranco Baruchello, now ninety-one, has long defied conventional art forms, a stance solidified after a 1972 encounter with dealer Ileana Sonnabend, who cynically urged him to focus on newspaper-based sculptures. Baruchello instead pursued diverse projects, including the video Starting from the Sweet (1979) with Jean-François Lyotard, Félix Guattari, and Paul Virilio, the company Artiflex, and the art farm Agricola Cornelia S.P.A. (1973–81). His exhibition at Massimo De Carlo's Mayfair gallery features works like La Formula (2013/14), five equilateral aluminium canvases with faint, colorful depictions of natural elements like bugs and flowers, creating schematic relations through lines and frames. Downstairs, pieces such as Murmur (2015) on wood or in display boxes adopt a moodier, black-doodled aesthetic, fostering a neurotic atmosphere. Despite the show's title suggesting new works, these paintings represent a continuum dating back over 50 years, characterized by white surfaces dotted with small images and symbols. Baruchello's approach resists easy interpretation, allowing his imagination to thrive without certainty, a theme evident in the disorienting yet precise visual language of his art. The article originally appeared in the January & February 2016 issue of ArtReview.