Mirror paintings. Works by Michelangelo Pistoletto

Biasutti & Biasutti Gallery is pleased to present a solo show of works by Michelangelo Pistoletto, a selection of unique and multiple mirror paintings, from 1962 to 2012.
“For Pistoletto, his mirror works are never mere instruments for representing reality and interacting virtually with it, but they are always at the same time an integral part of that reality which they reflect and in which they themselves are immersed.
And so it is, right from the start, even for the earliest of his ‘mirror paintings’ from 1962, which run the risk of being substantially closed off in that separate category of ‘paintings’ to be contemplated if their essential function within the artist’s entire research is not understood, as aesthetic devices (or thresholds) which generate fluid dialectics both ways between art and life, as catalysers of continuous short circuits between visual perception and space-time existential experience.”⁽¹⁾
The mirror paintings are the foundation of Pistoletto’s oeuvre—both of the artworks he makes and of his theoretical reflection in which he constantly returns to them to study their meaning in depth and to develop their implications.
“The magic of the mirror paintings lies in the fact that their vital and aesthetic energy works wherever they are placed, even and in particular in the houses of the collectors who purchase them. They are ‘paintings’ that constantly reflect and make us reflect, teaching us always to look at art as a means by which to continually verify the potential for freedom and adventure of our individual and collective lives, and not as a separate dimension in which to take shelter so as to flee from the tensions of the world around us. This is the positive message that Pistoletto sends us through his mirror paintings as well as the rest of his creative activities, still always one step out of the box”⁽²⁾
The exhibition, cuated by Biasutti & Biasutti Gallery, is characherized by unique pieces as: L’ombrellone (1971), Maria (1962-1982), Ok (1969-2004), Paolo Mussat Sartor (1962-1988), and by multiple works as la Scimmia in gabbia, il Coniglio, i Girasoli, la Gabbietta, lo Specchio.
A fully illustrated bilingual catalogue including texts by Francesco Poli and Giuseppe Biasutti will be published to accompany the exhibition
 

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