Emilio Prini

emilio-prini

emilio-prini-2

da fermacarte, 1968
200 x 200 cm each image

from the catalogue for When Attitudes Become Form—Live In Your Head, curated by HARALD SZEEMANN for the Kunsthalle Bern, March 22-April 27, 1969
courtesy the artist

Creative action must join hands with reality in every one of its aspects – climate, the people and things that stand around it – EMILIO PRINI

EMILIO PRINI (b.1943) is one of the protagonist of the Arte Povera movement from the beginning. He participated in all of the most important international exhibitions between 1967 and 1971 including When Attitude Becomes Form held in Bern in 1969 and curated by HARALD SZEEMANN.

For this famous exhibition, he presented Da Fermacarte (1968), two large images in which the process of photography is revealed: a photograph illustrates the connection between organic – the artist’s body – and inorganic – the lead. Both these elements are subjected to the force of gravity.

After that he never ceased to explore the nature of experience and perception, and the relationship between reality and reproduction by means of light, photography, sound and written texts.

His work was part of the group shows ‘Arte Povera’ – Neues Museum Weimar, and Kunstmuseum Basel (2012) – ‘Italics: Italian Art between Tradition and Revolution 1968–2008’ – MCA, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2009) and Palazzo Grassi, Venice, (2008) – ‘Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 1962-1972’ – Tate Modern, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, (2001-2002). PRINI participated to Documenta X (1997) and had an important solo exhibition entitled ‘Fermi in dogana’ at the Ancienne Douane in Strasbourg in 1995.



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