DIMENSIONS: 71 × 101 × 25 cm
INSCRIPTIONS: Signed, dated and titled on the verso, upper right: ‘Fabio Mauri, 1990 Roma / “Argentina” 1 ’
PROVENANCE: The artist
COLLECTION: Private collection, Milan
CATALOGUE: PT_1990_548
Polymateric collage on panel with plaster imprimitura in an iron frame open at the sides, and a glass shelf slotted into the bottom edge, tilted at about 45°. In the foreground, a black-and-white photo of a tennis player partially conceals other materials emerging from the background: a record, a piece of rough jute fabric, a Spanish plaque, scraps of papers and cards. This work, which together with Argentina 2 and 3 (inv. 549, 550) was part of the ‘Interno/Esterno’ exhibition-installation (inv. 3760), refers to a country with which the artist’s family had a long association: ‘I went all the way to Argentina. I saw the bankruptcy of its consumer society. I wanted to break the news. I don’t know if I succeeded.’1
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. 64.
1990, Rome, Galleria Anna D’Ascanio, Fabio Mauri: Interno, 9 March – 21 April.
1990, Florence, Galleria Carini, Fabio Mauri: Interno / Esterno, 19 May – July (travelling: 1990, Rome).
1994, Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954-1994, 21 June – 5 October, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu.
1997, Klagenfurt, Kunsthalle, Fabio Mauri. Male e bellezza / Das Böse und das Schöne, 24 April – 30 June, curated by Arnulf Rohsmann.
2000-2001, Barcelona, Palau de la Virreina, Del futurismo al làser: la aventura italiana de la matèria, 28 November 2000 – 14 January 2001, curated by Maurizio Calvesi, Rosella Siligato.
2001, Berlin, Kunstforum in der Grundkreditbank, L’avventura della materia. Der italienische Weg vom Futurismus zum Laser / Una linea italiana dal futurismo al laser, 15 February – 29 April, curated by Maurizio Calvesi, Rosella Siligato (travelling: 2000-2001, Barcelona).
2003, Tourcoing-Lille, Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains, Fabio Mauri – L’écran mental, 1 March – 27 April, curated by Dominique Païni.
2007-2008, Bergamo, GAMeC, Il futuro del futurismo, 19 September 2007 – 24 February 2008, curated by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio.
2009, Venice, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Fabio Mauri: etc., 4 June – 20 September, curated by Martina Cavallarin.
2009, Monfalcone (Gorizia), GC.AC. – Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Fabio Mauri, 10 October – 1 November, curated by Andrea Bruciati.
Fabio Mauri. Interno / Esterno, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Anna D’Ascanio, Rome and Galleria Carini, Florence, edited by Lara-Vinca Masini, Alberto Boatto (Rome / Florence, 1990), p. 24 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954-1994, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu (Milan / Rome: Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori / Carte Segrete, 1994), pp. 242–243 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri: Male e bellezza – Das Böse und das Schöne, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthalle, Klagenfurt, edited by Arnulf Rohsmann (Klagenfurt, 1997), p. 18 (ill.).
Del futurismo al láser: La aventura italiana de la materia, exhibition catalogue, Palau de la Virreina, Barcelona, edited by Rosella Siligato (Milan: Mazzotta, 2000), p. 131 (ill.).
Von Futurismus zum Laser: Der italienische Weg, exhibition catalogue, Kunstforum in der Grundkreditbank, Berlin, edited by Rosella Siligato (Milan: Mazzotta, 2001), p. 131 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri. L’écran mental, exhibition catalogue, Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains, Tourcoing-Lille, edited by Dominique Païni (Lille, 2003), p. 89 (ill.).
Ludovico Pratesi, “L'uomo che proiettò Gesù sul corpo di Pasolini”, in Il Venerdì, no. 780, Rome, 28 February 2003, p. 101 (ill.).
Adachiara Zevi, “L'arte ‘saggistica’ di Fabio Mauri”, in L’architettura – cronache e storia, no. 575, Rome, 2003, p. 670 (ill.).
Il futuro del futurismo, exhibition catalogue, GAMeC, Bergamo, edited by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, Maria Cristina Rodeschini (Milan: Electa, 2007), p. 115 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri. L’insolubile, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Martano, Turin, edited by Liliana Dematteis (Turin, 2008), p. 17 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri, Scritti in mostra. L’avanguardia come zona 1958-2008, edited by Francesca Alfano Miglietti (Milan: il Saggiatore, 2008), pp. 78–83 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri. Etc., exhibition catalogue, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice, edited by Vittorio Urbani (Milan: Lampi di stampa, 2009), p. 15 (ill.).
Laura Cherubini, Contro corrente: I grandi solitari dell’arte italiana: Alighiero Boetti, Gino De Dominicis, Luciano Fabro, Fabio Mauri, Vettor Pisani, Marisa Merz (Milan: Christian Marinotti edizioni, 2020), p. 126.
