Art in Paper
Cesare Orler
1910 first abstract watercolor. Some scholars debate what the precise date of this work is, perhaps it should be backdated a couple of years or perhaps postponed by as many, however, the substance does not change. One of the capital works of the history of the twentieth century, indeed for many, the work par excellence, is a watercolor on paper. Kandinsky realized that, closing his eyes while listening to Wagner's "Lohengrin" or Schonberg's "String Quartet," a series of colorful flashes were unleashed against the black background of thought, and the paper back was what could guarantee the answer. quicker to attempt to pictorially imprint this scenario. But before it was one of the media of painting, it was writing. The paper is at the end of that evolutionary chain that has seen the incecered tablet, the papyrus roll and the parchment, and that, perhaps, within a few decades will in turn be kicked off by the digital, who knows. For now, paper remains the most affordable support for cost, availability and transportation. Everyone has learned to write on paper, they have experienced what is the sound of the pencil that slips and engraves a slight groove on the sheet, they felt its thickness and fragility, the scent and the rustle. Anyone has had the right to "put on paper" their thoughts to reorganize their ideas and outline that nebulous of thoughts that amalgamate and confuse in the mind. For Jannis Kounellis, paper support is not used for the preparation of sketches for larger works or on other media. He uses paper to study the material aspect of the elements most dear to his poetry. It analyzes, for example, how to disrupt a central core and create a magma that convocations both bitumen matter and a scientifically measurable sculptural body. The two works on display represent the famous sacks of coal, the ones kounellis hoisted on his shoulder and with which he was photographed in Mexico, in the guise of a contemporary Atlas that supported the ballast of a cultural heritage intent on crushing the artist under his weight. The detachment of the floors is reproduced through a change of direction in the sign and the only light source comes from the bottom and comes from the paper support itself that seems to back illuminate the vertical grid.
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