Publisher's Synopsis
Published to accompany a major retrospective exhibition ÔÇô the first in the United States in more than 35 years and the most comprehensive ever mounted ÔÇô this title showcases the pioneering work of Italian artist Alberto Burri (1915ÔÇô1995). Exploring the beauty and complexity of BurriÔÇÖs process-based works, the exhibition positions the artist as a central and singular protagonist of postwar art. Burri is best known for his series of Sacchi (sacks) made of stitched and patched remnants of torn burlap bags, often combined with fragments of discarded clothing. Far less familiar are his other series, which this exhibition represents in depth: Catrami (tars), Gobbi (hunchbacks), Muffe (molds), Bianchi (whites), Legni (woods), Ferri (irons), Combustioni plastiche (plastic combustions), Cretti and Cellotex works. BurriÔÇÖs work both demolished and reconfigured the Western pictorial tradition, while reconceptualizing modernist collage. Using unconventional materials, he moved beyond the painted surfaces and mark making of American Abstract Expressionism and European Art Informel. BurriÔÇÖs unprecedented approaches to manipulating humble substances ÔÇô and his abject picture-objects ÔÇô also profoundly influenced Arte Povera, Neo-Dada and Process art.
