Sergio Risaliti on Paolo Canevari's 'Landscape' and the Artist's Use of Industrial Rubber

Sergio Risaliti, artistic director of Museo Novecento in Florence, discusses Paolo Canevari's 2020 work 'Landscape' (industrial waste oil on paper). The piece uses old book pages stained with used motor oil to create silhouettes of hills and mountains, reflecting on pollution of nature, news, and thought. Canevari has worked since the late 1980s with industrial rubber (inner tubes and tires), cutting, sewing, and burning it. His works include a pope's cope made of inner tubes (Siena, 2001), a globe covered in tire tread (2010), and a series of tires with names of monotheistic religions used as children's swings (2005). He often subverts symbols of power and violence, as in 'God Year' (altering Good Year) on a military vehicle. His video series 'Burning' is silent, emphasizing meditation. Risaliti compares Canevari's poetic realism to Caravaggio and notes his use of black, referencing Velázquez, Manet, Malevich, Burri, Serra, and Kounellis.