Pietro Consagra's Avant-Garde Vision at Collezione Olgiati

The Collezione Olgiati in Lugano presents 'Pietro Consagra. La materia poteva non esserci,' a monographic exhibition curated by Alberto Salvadori. Running through 2021, it focuses on two decisive decades of Consagra's career, from the 1950s to the early 1970s, with a chronologically reversed itinerary. The show opens with 'La città frontale' (1968), an open, jagged work blending sculpture, installation, and architectural utopia. Pseudo-ready-mades repurpose urban furniture, while painted canvases from the late 1960s and early 1970s explore spatial painting. A highlight is the 'selva' of painted irons, where sculptural structure becomes unclassifiable. The exhibition recontextualizes Consagra's better-known works, such as 'Colloquio' (1952), by challenging material conventions—bronze, steel, and burnt wood. Consagra's concept of frontalità engages the viewer, infusing Italian art with progressive transatlantic ideas. The exhibition positions Consagra as an avant-garde figure often underrecognized.