Formazione di pensiero anarchico is a series of three collages composed of photographic negatives on glass, glued onto Raffaello sheets by papermakers Fabriano. In the three works, the photographic plates are divided into increasingly smaller fragments: in the first one, they are intact (inv. 223); the second is composed of two fragments (inv. 222); the third of four small pieces (inv. 221). The images recorded on the negatives are only partially decipherable: Marlon Brando and Jean Peters in a film scene from Viva Zapata! directed by Elia Kazan, an equestrian combat possibly from the same film, and the inverted image of a Padre Maria Turoldo. Mauri wrote: ‘The formation of an anarchic or contrasting thought continuously, of a rational and conciliatory nature, has been with me as long as my lifetime. Being inclined toward concord, acknowledging the more frequently perverse mechanics that govern human souls has gradually built a system of tenacious defence and offence. Man is inclined toward evil; critical effort coincides with the opposite desire, for good […] To oppose evil is to oppose (its) authority […] Therefore, I call myself an anarchist, therefore, I cultivate myself as an artist. Therefore, I am against, because I would be in favour.’1

1. F. Mauri in Fabio Mauri. Opere e azioni 1954–1994, catalogue of the exhibition (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome), edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu, Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori e Carte Segrete, Rome, 1994, p. 141.