This installation from Ylva Ogland and Karl Holmquvist formed an immersive environment at the Fruit and Flower Deli booth at the Armory Show. The Stockholm gallery was part of the Armory Focus: The Nordic Countries section. The pelts, tents, and star made me think of the nomadic Sami people of Lapland. (I wish I could find more information instead of just supplying my conjecture, but there is not much on the internet about this and I’ve lost my papers from the show.) Juxtaposed against these element were traditional “fine art” on the easel and the walls. Two large facing canvases mirror each other, and creating a dialogue between the naked woman and her twin.
Tag Archives: 1956-1974
Michelangelo Pistoletto: From One to Many, 1956–1974 at the PMA
Installation shot of the early mirror painting |
It started with a mirror painting, like one of those above, when I first became enchanted with Michelangelo Pistoletto’s work. This retrospective of his career, currently at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through January 16, argues for an appreciation of the artist’s varied and influential career on the whole, and quite successfully. The early works above remain my favorites of the artist: scenes from life featuring Pistolletos’ friends in typical poses and then unmoored from their surroundings by being placed on a mirror.
Early painting, self portrait |
Me, with Three Girls on a Balcony |
The tissue he painted on has not always aged well, like the spots across the middle girl’s back that you can see here. I love how looking at these mirror paintings is also interacting with them and taking a place in the tableau.
Ogetti in menu installation view, 1960s |
Pistoletto also created sculptures that he called Ogetti in menu, or minus objects, because they were made from parts of a whole. Sometimes Pistolleto used these in his growing performance art that was widely influential, as he did some of the rag works below.
Venus in Rags |
Later he continued to create his mirror paintings, but changed how he created the image. Switiching to silkscreen, Pistoletto was able to create bright, photo-realistic images. In many of them a darker element, not present in the early portraits, appears like the jail bars above or the chain face to the left saying “Periculo de morte” (Danger of Death).