Roberto Floreani's 'Astrazione come Resistenza' Explores Abstraction's Esoteric Roots

Roberto Floreani, an Italian artist born in Venice in 1965, has published a 380-page book titled 'Astrazione come Resistenza' (De Piante, Busto Arsizio, 2021). The volume traces the origins of abstraction from Robert Fludd's 1617 work 'Utriusque Cosmi' through Kazimir Malevich's Black Square (1913) to contemporary practice, linking abstraction to Neoplatonism, Kabbalah, alchemy, and theosophy. Floreani argues that abstraction is a form of resistance against materialism and ignorance. The book includes a chapter on abstraction, spirituality, theosophy, and anthroposophy, and situates itself in the tradition of artist-writers like Boccioni, Malevich, Kandinsky, Josef Albers, Gillo Dorfles, Peter Halley, and Anselm Kiefer. The review, written by Stefano Piantini, recounts Malevich's 1935 funeral in Leningrad, where a reproduction of the Black Square was mounted on the hearse. Floreani's earlier book on Boccioni is also noted. The publisher is De Piante Editore, Milan.