Rigorismo
April 1 - June 20, 2015
New York
A "Rigor" that forces space to become a thing, rather than for things a fill space.
Rigorismo, influenced by Lucio Fontana and a survey exhibition of Italy’s preeminent artists who represent the genesis, progression, and future of the Spazialismo movement. Rigorismo is rooted in the tradition of the Spazialismo (Spatialism) movement of the late 1940s, as well as the German Zero movement of the late 1950s.
Rigorismo challenges the definitions and limitations of space and object within artistic media. As a movement, it is influenced by a philosophical language of existence, which, as defined by Rene Descartes, is reducible to space and movement. It is these themes that the following artists challenge by interrupting the defined artistic spaces by manipulating canvas, metal, and other materials to create work out of space, itself. Synthesizing color, sound, space, movement, and time into a new type of art, as is the trademark of Spatialism, these artists of Rigorismo continue in this tradition, using innovative materials and tools to bring the movement through the Post-War era and into a more contemporary context.
Dadamaino (1930-2000), gained prominence among the Milanese avant- garde with her Volumi works: punctured canvases, splayed over white stretchers, By opening up the surface of the work, she gives her pieces a dynamic interplay between tangible colors and negative spaces. Dadamaino continued her negative-spatial pieces through the 1950s and 60s, showing with Milan’s experimental Azimuth (Bonalumi, Castellani, and Manzoni) and Group Zero in Germany. Dadamaino’s later works shifted to a linguistic theme of signs, which she exhibited in the 1980 Venice Biennale.