Dominique Lévy is presenting Italian artist Enrico Castellani’s first solo exhibition in London at its Old Bond Street gallery until April 8. And it’s a must-see exhibition, such is the significance of Castellani’s influence on, and contribution to, the course of modern and contemporary art. Born in Castelmassa in 1930, Castellani emerged as a pioneer of the European post-war avant-garde during the 1950s and 60s, parallel to major European movements like ZERO in Germany.In 1959 he founded the influential Azimut gallery in Milan with Piero Manzoni and published the related journal Azimuth. The duo organised exhibitions and published essays that opposed the dominant art movements in Europe and promoted the idea of a self-referential form of art.Best known for his monochromatic embossed canvasses, created using a nail gun, Castellani’s career has been shaped by his profound explorations of form and space and his continued challenging of the physical and conceptual parameters of the medium of painting.In a 2014 interview with BLOUIN ARTINFO, the artist explains that his radical approach is based “on the need to lighten painting from being overburdened by false elements (literary, descriptive, ideological, etc.),” to restore it to its “ontological, essential quality: the surface.”Produced in collaboration with the artist and the Enrico Castellani Foundation, the exhibition at Dominique Lévy explores “the ways in which painting can occupy three dimensional space” through a selection of recent and historical works by the artist.Highlights include a selection of the artist’s large-scale “Superfici bianche” (White Surfaces), recent angular metallic “Biangolare cromato” (Bi-angular Chrome), examples of his Angolare cromato (Angular Chrome), and the recent sculpture “Spartito,” which references a 1969 work.“At a time when Italian art and its market is in the spotlight, we are pleased to exhibit the work of its most celebrated artist, and hope that this curated exhibition will help visitors either discover the work, or view it in a new context,” says Emilio Steinberger, Curator and Senior Director at Dominique Lévy Gallery.“We hope that it helps to demonstrate Castellani’s influence on not just Italian art, but on artists and movements around the world.”“Enrico Castellani” is at Dominique Lévy Old Bond Street until April 8, 2016
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