Feb. 14 – “Pistoletto Political” is not a long and boring electioneering speech, a “tirade” as some would say; instead, it’s an exhibition by the famous Piedmont artist, who will turn 80 in June, held at Luxembourg & Dayan in London until April 12. The exhibition presents eight films produced between 1960 and 1970, in the background of terrorist violence, social unrest and economic downturn. The great interpreter of Arte Povera – who in 1968 withdrew one of his works from the Venice Biennale in response to student protests during the event – chose to expose: “furniture upside down” (1976) that “symbolizes the desire of a status quo reversal, “the cages” (1967-1974), and “The Comice” (1965). The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog that includes both historical texts of the time, as well as a new essay by Robert Lumley, professor of Italian Cultural History at University College London, co-curator with Francesco Manacorda of the exhibition “Marcello Levi, portrait a collector: From Futurism to Arte Povera,” presented in London at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, in 2006. A major retrospective of Pistoletto will also be staged in April at the Louvre in Paris.
Art: Pistoletto “political” works at the Luxembourg & Dayan’s
