MATERIALS: Engraving on aluminium and fretsaw on a graphite-coated iron base
DIMENSIONS: 132.5 × 22 × 22 cm
PROVENANCE: The artist
COLLECTION: Associazione per l’Arte L’Esperimento del Mondo, Rome
CATALOGUE: O_1996_434
A manual hacksaw, stuck in the act of engraving the word ‘Pittura’ onto an aluminium sheet: all the letters have been pierced except for the P, which is only traced out in pencil. By abandoning the act in fieri, the artist focuses attention on the process, which declaring itself to be ‘painting’, becomes almost a manifesto: ‘Getting out of painting is simply not possible. It is only possible to get out of a prejudiced idea of painting, one that is separate and inert.’1 Mauri added the number 2 to the title to distinguish this work from the contemporaneous sculpture of the same name (inv. 418) constructed from a film projector that, instead of film, featured a blank canvas. He made three copies of the Pittura 2 work (inv. 434, 980, 3383).
1. F. Mauri in Fabio Mauri. Interno / Esterno, catalogue of the exhibition (Rome, Galleria Anna D'Ascanio and Florence, Galleria Carini), edited by Lara-Vinca Masini, Alberto Boatto, Rome / Florence, 1990, p. 65.
1997, Klagenfurt, Kunsthalle, Fabio Mauri. Male e bellezza / Das Böse und das Schöne, 24 April – 30 June, curated by Arnulf Rohsmann.
1997-1998, Milan, Studio Casoli, Fabio Mauri: Autobiografia come teoria, 12 November 1997 – 12 January 1998.
1998, Rome, Sergio Ansuini terrace on Piazza Borghese, Arteinaria, 5 October, curated by Carmine Sorrentino, Claudia Colasanti, Paolo de' Medici di Ottajano.
2003, Tourcoing-Lille, Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains, Fabio Mauri – L’écran mental, 1 March – 27 April, curated by Dominique Païni.
2007, Milan, Galleria Milano, Fabio Mauri: Schermi, 3 May – 15 July.
2008, Turin, Galleria Martano, Fabio Mauri: L’insolubile, 7 November – 23 December.
2009, Monfalcone (Gorizia), GC.AC. – Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Fabio Mauri, 10 October – 1 November, curated by Andrea Bruciati.
2011, Bologna, Fair – Galleria Michela Rizzo, Arte Fiera, 28–31 January.
2016-2017, Bergamo, GAMeC, Fabio Mauri: Arte per legittima difesa, 7 October 2016 – 15 January 2017, curated by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio.
Fabio Mauri: Male e bellezza – Das Böse und das Schöne, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthalle, Klagenfurt, edited by Arnulf Rohsmann (Klagenfurt, 1997), p. 119 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri. L’insolubile, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Martano, Turin, edited by Liliana Dematteis (Turin, 2008), pp. 52–53 (ill.).
