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Abstract painting by Gianni Metalli, rationalist art acrylic on paper

$980.28
£738
€830
CA$1,350.40
A$1,512.36
CHF 789.12
MX$18,472.80
NOK 10,039.95
SEK 9,463.85
DKK 6,318.07

About the Item

Swiss Artist - 90s Painting - Modern Italian Artwork Painting Gianni Metalli the small painting framed into the larger frame measure 15 cm x 15 cm Gianni Metalli, * 28.2.1930 Lugano, † 24.11.2006 Lugano. He attended compulsory school in Lugano and then the School of Arts and Crafts in Bellinzona. He is self-taught in his artistic training. After a figurative beginning, in the early 1970s he began a pictorial research of geometric orientation, which drew important stimuli from the meeting with the architect and artist Alberto Sartoris. He mainly creates small and medium-sized acrylics, accompanied by watercolors and drawings on paper. Since 1962 he has held solo exhibitions in local and foreign galleries; he has participated in group exhibitions in Switzerland and later also in Germany and Italy. Between 1963 and 1985 he designed some theater sets. In the 1970s and 1980s he illustrated several literary and artistic publications. In 1996 he created an important public work in Locarno and in 2000 he carried out another significant intervention in the headquarters of the Banca dello Stato in Lugano. Since 1961 he has received several awards in Ticino and Italy. Since 1967 he has been a member of the SPSAS. In 2001 he exhibited at Villa dei Cedri in Bellinzona, where his donation to the museum was presented. In 2010 the Museo cantonale d’arte in Lugano exhibited the core of the painter’s works belonging to the cantonal collections, which includes the donation of Olga Metalli, the artist’s widow. Metalli draws the initial inspiration for his geometric poetics from architecture and natural landscapes. In the 1970s he began his own investigation by marking the pictorial surface with quadrilaterals of various sizes, chromatically divided or partially curved. In their coplanar juxtaposition they evoke jagged mosaics or collages of fragments cut out and sewn together into a new totality. The formal structure is determined by a vertical dynamic, counterbalanced by a subtle horizontal segmentation. The color scheme dominated by gray-blue tones is interspersed with thoughtful yellow-red accents. Among the references of this first period is above all the Como abstraction of Mario Radice and Manlio Rho. In the 1980s a new type of articulation takes over: the introduction of an oblique axial orientation, which disrupts the reticular ordering of the surface and frees the rhythm of the fields from the orthogonality adhering to the plane of the support. An inclined rectilinear element acts as an ordering axis for the distribution of the quadrilaterals. This creates "chromo-formal" nuclei that float lightly on the white background, evoking the Suprematist grammar of Kasimir Malevic. The artist himself intends these configurations as projections of imaginary "harmonic" architectures or axonometric perspectives, based on ordering lines. There is no shortage of more decorative results, set aside towards the end of the decade. The tonalism of the beginnings has lightened, acquiring greater luminosity and expressive force. In the 1990s a further turning point occurs: Metalli progressively abandons the compositions with an oblique dominant in favor of a renewed orthogonal structuring of the pictorial plane. A reduced number of monochrome surfaces and lines (primary colors, gray and black) are evenly distributed on a white or gray background. A progressive reduction of the operative elements further purifies the vocabulary; the architectural referent gives way to jazz evocations. Reminiscences of the work of Jean Gorin shine through, then of the neoplasticism of Piet Mondrian and not least of the relational painting of Fritz Glarner. From the complexity of the first scansions to the minimal simplicity of the most recent scores, Metalli has consistently sought compositional methods inspired by the harmonic values ​​implicit in the modern history of geometric language. For more Italian modern art, decorative pieces and collectible furniture, have a look at our storefront. Check us out at Spinzi Milano!
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 5.91 in (15 cm)Width: 5.91 in (15 cm)Depth: 1.19 in (3 cm)
  • Style:
    Modern (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
    1990-1999
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1996
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use. Minor fading.
  • Seller Location:
    Milano, IT
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU7782245779872

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