The obsession with stamping

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.