05.05.2025

Studying the past to better understand the present, we came across a surprising piece of writing.
At the 27th Venice Biennale, in 1954, Jean Arp was welcomed in this way… then, in the 1960s, things would change!

“It was Jean Arp who invented the hole”

“Jean Arp, a Frenchman from Strasbourg and very German in both education and taste, is the winner of the highest Venetian award for sculpture: one and a half million lire, the Prize of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Jean Arp is a famous ‘cannon’ of the avant-garde, and like a cannon, he is thus a great piercer or maker of holes. He may even be the original inventor of the hole in art; and it’s a pity he didn’t think to patent it, because later, from Henry Moore to Lucio Fontana, holes of every size multiplied frighteningly, and the entire Biennale seems like some kind of skimmer.
But the time will come when the holes will be plugged. In fact, in Milan, there’s already a painter who paints with nails and has declared his intention to surpass Spatialism precisely by plugging up Lucio Fontana’s holes. So, after the hole, will we see the plug at the 28th Biennale? Let’s hope so.
Jean Arp, along with Brancusi, Giacometti, and other international ‘cannons’ of sculpture, is one of those false avant-gardists responsible for the terrible confusion of ideas and the reduction of modern sculpture to sheer nothingness.”

29.05.2025

Studying the past to better understand the present, we came across a surprising piece of writing.
At the 27th Venice Biennale in 1954, Giuseppe Capogrossi was received like this… then, in the 1960s, things would change!

Stamps or cockroaches?

“And here is a work by Giuseppe Capogrossi (…) which must be titled Superficie (“Surface”).
The ordinary public, upon entering the Capogrossi room, will immediately think of a cockroach march, the progress of a tapeworm, or the tracks left by rubber-soled hiking boots.The more cultured, however, will draw different comparisons: for example, to prehistoric handprints or Apulian pottery.The main issue with certain things isn’t that they say little or nothing — it’s that they’re poorly made.
In this composition, the three sets of teeth in the upper right are excessive, and they’re too close to the dominant fork motif.”

29.05.2025

And here is a work by Giuseppe Capogrossi (…) which must be titled Superficie (“Surface”).
The ordinary public, upon entering the Capogrossi room, will immediately think of a cockroach march, the progress of a tapeworm, or the tracks left by rubber-soled hiking boots.The more cultured, however, will draw different comparisons: for example, to prehistoric handprints or Apulian pottery.The main issue with certain things isn’t that they say little or nothing — it’s that they’re poorly made.
In this composition, the three sets of teeth in the upper right are excessive, and they’re too close to the dominant fork motif.

26.05.2025

Picture frame moulding: a thin strip, usually made of wood, but also metal or plastic, used to edge, reinforce, or decorate.

The choice to frame a painting—and how to do it—is a conscious and delicate practice in gallery work.

Studio Gariboldi loves the slat. It defines without enclosing, refines without distracting. It is light, clean, linear.

In the picture, a frame moulding for Nobuya Abe, R.3, mixed media on canvas, 1966

21.05.2025

The frame fulfills the task of isolating the work of art, shielding the image from external interference, and connecting the internal elements of the work itself. It is not a marginal detail.
The corners, the thickness, the color—everything contributes to establishing meaning, amplifying significance, creating islands, protections, autonomy.
There is so much to learn from reading the essay The Frame. Stories, Theories, Texts. Every collector should have it in their library to better understand the deeper meanings of this essential part of their beloved collection.
It’s a book that interests us because it heightens awareness and gives value to gestures that seem simple on the surface, but are, in fact, a crucial part of the gallerist’s work.

La cornice. Storie, teorie, testi.
A cura di Daniela Ferrari e Andrea Pinotti
Johan & Levi Editore, 2018

14.05.2025

Studying the past to better understand the present, we came across a surprising piece of writing.
At the 27th Venice Biennale in 1954, Lucio Fontana was received like this… then, in the 1960s, things would change!

“Space? Or a sieve?

Far too many holes. But don’t count them, because the number would nullify the concept of space and infinity. Technically, the work appears sloppy, and the composition is far from convincing: look at the last row, the straight diagonal at the bottom.”

The painting being discussed is the masterpiece in the photo.

17.04.2025

Psychoanalysis and art haven’t always made a great pairing, which is why Massimo Recalcati attempts to free art from the pathographic lens of psychoanalysis. This is a complex and fascinating book, recommended for philosophers, historians, artists—but also for curious readers who are willing to dive back into deep reflection.
The volume is enriched with color images featuring some of our favorite artists: Tàpies, Burri, Fontana, Duchamp.
We’re drawn to it because it shifts the perspective, proposing that “art and psychoanalysis are practices that find their foundation only in themselves—without guarantees, without that hard, strong knowledge that characterizes the positive sciences; practices that place the dimension of the Real at their core.”

Massimo Recalcati, The Miracle of Form. Toward a Psychoanalytic Aesthetics, Castelvecchi.

11.03.2025

The book Fantasmi e Guerrieri, Justice and Revenge in Japanese Imagination tells stories of ghosts, recounting the deeds of those who, unable to obtain justice in life, returned after death to punish their oppressors. It also narrates the tales of warriors with epic feats, like in the episode of the forty-seven rōnin.

Thanks to the shadows and lights of Japanese fantasy imagination, the book explores the eternal clash between law and justice, between the strong and the weak, still alive in today’s Japan.

It interests us because the legends of Japan speak of our fears and the “warrior” hidden in each of us.