| FRANCO ANGELI | you can also see the exhibition and the works on ARTSY | |
| six paintings | ||
| 18 february – 26 march 2020 |
For me, matter is a fragment of this enormous rent that lacerated Europe; my first paintings were like that, like a wound you pick the pieces of a bandage out of… where the blood has dried but is no longer a red mark. G. De Marco, Piazza del Popolo: 1950-1960, La Tartaruga, March 1989 | ||
Franco Angeli, still from "Inquietudine" by Mario Carbone |
My earliest pictures are a record of my daily contact with the streets. I saw the ruins, the tombstones, ancient and modern symbols such as the eagle, the swastika, the hammer and sickle, obelisks, statues and Roman wolves release enough energy to tackle the adventure of painting.A. Tugnoli, Franco Angeli, Pistoia, 2001, p.159 | ||
Franco Angeli in his studio, Rome 1963, ph. Archivio Uliano Lucas © |
The fact that I looked to the past (to the hammer and sickle, swastikas, war cemeteries, red stars, Jewish stars, Roman wolves, etc…) does not mean that I handed myself over to the seductive consolation of the memory. Quite the opposite, I wanted to underline that every symbol is indestructible and highlight how its original value is often upended into a sign of mourning. Franco Angeli | ||
Franco Angeli during the setting of one of his exhibitions, late 60s. Photo Archivio Marcello Gianvenuti © |
As Maurizio Fagiolo dell’Arco claims, the fragment is Franco Angeli’s point of focus. And so he blows up details of US coins from forever different angles. His symbols are swastikas and hammers and sickles, used as negative and positive signs. By reproducing American eagles and half dollars, he casts light on the emptiness of those images, of that same consumer society that American pop culture was instead celebrating. Rolando Anselmi, Franco Angeli: una retrospettiva, 2009 | ||
Franco Angeli in his studio, early 70s |
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Franco Angeli. Six Paintings was last modified: January 15th, 2024 by