Artissima 2011

As part of the Back to the Future section of Artissima 18, Galleria Il Ponte presents a succinct retrospective devoted to Giuseppe Chiari, with works covering almost the whole of the 1960s and 70s.

After a music score from 1962, still composed on staves, we find ourselves before the scores from 1963: Il metodo per suonare l’acqua, il piano, i sassi, la chitarra e altre cose (How to Play Water, the Piano, Stones, the Guitar and Other Things). From the very first scores Chiari comes to build a music visualised through gestures and painting, the final outcome being the simple and absolute sign of black and white.
Then we get his statements, collages and black and white photos of his performances from the 1970s, such as Gesti sul piano (Gestures on the Piano), which explode into the enormous written/performed work of La musica è facile (Music is Easy) from 1976, comprising fifteen sheets, each measuring 50 cm across.
The short look at his career ends with some large photos such as L’acqua con tre specchi (Water with Three Mirrors) and with the first extraordinary addition of colour in the large photographic tryptych from 1979, which captures a piano keyboard through the television screen.