Publisher's Synopsis
Peinture Ou Comment S'en Débarrasser (Painting or How to Get Rid of It) is the catalogue of the group exhibition under the same name, curated by Éric de Chassey at the French Academy in Rome, Villa Medici. The exhibition, whose title is inspired by Ionesco's play Amédée or How to get rid of it, raises a question that has haunted artists since the invention of abstraction in the early 20th century: the end of painting. The exhibition shows three fascinating periods in the careers of four renowned artists: the Italian Fabio Mauri, the American Marcia Hafif, the French Martin Barré and the Swiss Olivier Mosset. With their works, they embody the developments surrounding the complex question regarding 'the end of painting'. The logic of reducing painting to its strict primary components, which characterises minimalism, began in the 1960s. This process of reducing something to its essential shape led artists on a quest to discover new forms. Between 1959 and 1969, their work explored everything from conceptual art to performance, before returning to the familiarity of painting. Text in English, French, and Italian.
