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i l l e z n o d o i z i r u ma on the verge of becoming
published in conjunction with the artist's exhibition MARCH 18 - APRIL 23, 2005
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i l l e z n o d o i z i r u ma on the verge of becoming
published in conjunction with the artist's exhibition MARCH 18 - APRIL 23, 2005
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Unhappy Sex
Giggle
I live with 5 cats, They Don’t Always Get Along
Shrodinger’s Cat
Una Cosa me da Fastido
A Bad Life
Starting Anew at the Time of My Life
What are Suitable Geometric Analogies for Understanding Quantum Mechanics?
2/14/05 5:27:47 PM
Donzelli05_catalogv6.indd 4-5
Unhappy Sex
Giggle
I live with 5 cats, They Don’t Always Get Along
Shrodinger’s Cat
Una Cosa me da Fastido
A Bad Life
Starting Anew at the Time of My Life
What are Suitable Geometric Analogies for Understanding Quantum Mechanics?
2/14/05 5:27:47 PM
ON THE VERGE OF BECOMING: The Drawings of Maurizio Donzelli
Maurizio Donzelli seeks to engage the viewer with drawing as a process by which an artist brings ideas to life. Working in watercolor, he creates colorful drawings of disarming simplicity, yet tantalizing mystery. The forms in his drawings seem to allude, partly, to things we know, yet their references are elusive, multiple, and overlapping. At the same time, he makes us aware of the performative aspects of mark-making: the traces of the movements of the artist’s own hand in the creation of evocative lines and shapes on paper. Over the past ten years, Donzelli has involved the spectator in these performances as the Macchina dei Disegni (Drawing Machine). The spectator submits an idea or a wish, and the machine gives it visual form. By stimulating this communication, Donzelli creates an expectant audience for whom his drawings become objects of desire. This process is seen in his two performances in November 2004 at the Bullseye Connection Gallery, the site of the first appearance of the Macchina dei Disegni outside of Europe. When Donzelli becomes the Macchina, he works in solitude, his body hidden inside a large box-like structure. At the Bullseye Gallery, this structure is covered in mirror-like silver film, so that the spectators see themselves and the gallery reflected in the box. Consequently, the box has the uncanny quality of seeming to disappear (just as the body of the artist has). The box is in the dynamic shape of a rhombus (as opposed to the static cube that he often uses), and to it are attached a small “IN” box, into which visitors drop requests, and a small “OUT” box, through which the guests receive the small drawings, typically measuring about 10 x 7 inches. For the spectators, waiting for drawings to appear at two- to threeminute intervals, the two-hour performances go by slowly. For the
Donzelli05_catalogv6.indd 6-7
artist, under stress, time passes quickly. He works frenetically, with no chance to analyze a request or ponder alternative forms for his drawings. In the momentary hesitation before his brush touches the sheet, the drawing is on the verge of becoming. While the possibilities for any given drawing are seemingly open-ended, they are neither endless nor infinite. The artist’s responses are shaped by a repertory of forms he has built up over the years. Strong contour lines define forms, which may seem purely abstract or which may suggest whimsical creatures or fragmentary entities. Budlike forms “sprouting” from contour lines suggest germination, growth, or metamorphosis. Lines are sometimes composed of a succession of strokes of different colors, which pointedly refers to their making. One of Donzelli’s favorite forms is the “drop” (goccia). These gocce are circular or drop-like forms, evoking raindrops, teardrops, balls, or balloons. Sometimes paired or linked to form a chain, they are often variegated in color—the result of a blending and bleeding of two colors that create a mesmerizing opalescence. Open to numerous associations, they have a multivalent quality. It is this ambiguity of references that Donzelli prizes. At the same time, Donzelli also creates drawings without recourse to the Macchina. However, the ritualistic process of the Macchina endows its drawings with a special aura. The box housing the artist evokes the oracular shrines of ancient Greece and Rome. At these sacred sites, those with questions for certain deities consulted a priest or priestess, whose utterances conveyed the god’s answers. The Macchina also evokes the performances of shaman-like artists such as Joseph Beuys, whose “actions” involved ritualistic gestures and props. The conspicuous absence of Donzelli’s body in his
performances distinguishes them from those of Beuys, in which the latter’s body played a paramount role. In both Beuys’s and Donzelli’s performances, objects remain behind as “relics” of the events—in the case of the Macchina, it is the drawings that are left as traces of the performances. One of the purposes of bringing the Macchina dei Disegni to Portland is to create a body of material that provides a point of departure for making glass “drawings” at the Bullseye Glass factory. Enamored of the rich coloration of this material and the translucency and depth created by the refraction and reflection of light, Donzelli finds analogues in glass for the liquidity of watercolor and its jewel-like tones. The speed and spontaneity that are part of the making of the Macchina drawings are antithetical to the slow and painstaking aspects of working in glass. Collaborating with a team of technicians, Donzelli must adopt a methodical approach, which allows his analytical side to come to the fore. From among the Macchina drawings, he chooses those that are less clearly illustrations of things in the world and thereby more evocative of multiple interpretations. Some of the works in glass feature variants of one or more motifs from the Macchina drawings or from a sketchbook the artist keeps with ideas from past performances. Other glass drawings do not depend at all on any of the Macchina drawings; rather, they build on ideas he has discovered as he has made drawings in glass. In the factory studio, the artist works out his ideas on large sheets of paper or draws directly on sheets of glass with a felt-tip pen. Layers of colored and clear glass sheets, which are selected for their vivid coloration, intriguing striations and textures, and irregular,
deckle edges, are fused by heat to serve as the base or “canvas” on which to lay a variety of glass elements. He uses glass in a variety of forms to make a great quantity of these elements to fashion motifs, many of which have analogues in his drawings on paper. Sheet glass is cut into shapes that are placed on the base layers. Various colors of frit, or crushed glass, produce multicolored areas. Glass powders are sifted over other elements to create gradations of tone. Technicians melt and blend different colored stringers (vermicelli- or spaghetti-like threads of glass), to create drops (gocce) that resemble the opalescent passages in his watercolors. As a result of firing, components may become integrated with the layers beneath them, or lie in heavy relief on top, typically having a melted quality. These glass drawings entail a change in scale: they are much larger than the Macchina drawings, becoming almost 8 x 3 feet. Concurrently with the glass drawing project, and perhaps largely in response to it, Donzelli creates monumental watercolor drawings, analogous in scale to the drawings manipulated by dancers in his recent performance piece Il Contorno delle Cose (The Contour of Things), which was produced in Bergamo in September 2004. Whether spontaneous or planned, Donzelli’s drawings create a world of imaginative forms that seem on the verge of becoming. His drawings invite viewers who are attuned and attentive to multiple resonances to be creatively engaged with these inventive works. FPO working shot Annette Dixon CURATOR OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS Portland Art Museum
2/14/05 5:28:44 PM
ON THE VERGE OF BECOMING: The Drawings of Maurizio Donzelli
Maurizio Donzelli seeks to engage the viewer with drawing as a process by which an artist brings ideas to life. Working in watercolor, he creates colorful drawings of disarming simplicity, yet tantalizing mystery. The forms in his drawings seem to allude, partly, to things we know, yet their references are elusive, multiple, and overlapping. At the same time, he makes us aware of the performative aspects of mark-making: the traces of the movements of the artist’s own hand in the creation of evocative lines and shapes on paper. Over the past ten years, Donzelli has involved the spectator in these performances as the Macchina dei Disegni (Drawing Machine). The spectator submits an idea or a wish, and the machine gives it visual form. By stimulating this communication, Donzelli creates an expectant audience for whom his drawings become objects of desire. This process is seen in his two performances in November 2004 at the Bullseye Connection Gallery, the site of the first appearance of the Macchina dei Disegni outside of Europe. When Donzelli becomes the Macchina, he works in solitude, his body hidden inside a large box-like structure. At the Bullseye Gallery, this structure is covered in mirror-like silver film, so that the spectators see themselves and the gallery reflected in the box. Consequently, the box has the uncanny quality of seeming to disappear (just as the body of the artist has). The box is in the dynamic shape of a rhombus (as opposed to the static cube that he often uses), and to it are attached a small “IN” box, into which visitors drop requests, and a small “OUT” box, through which the guests receive the small drawings, typically measuring about 10 x 7 inches. For the spectators, waiting for drawings to appear at two- to threeminute intervals, the two-hour performances go by slowly. For the
Donzelli05_catalogv6.indd 6-7
artist, under stress, time passes quickly. He works frenetically, with no chance to analyze a request or ponder alternative forms for his drawings. In the momentary hesitation before his brush touches the sheet, the drawing is on the verge of becoming. While the possibilities for any given drawing are seemingly open-ended, they are neither endless nor infinite. The artist’s responses are shaped by a repertory of forms he has built up over the years. Strong contour lines define forms, which may seem purely abstract or which may suggest whimsical creatures or fragmentary entities. Budlike forms “sprouting” from contour lines suggest germination, growth, or metamorphosis. Lines are sometimes composed of a succession of strokes of different colors, which pointedly refers to their making. One of Donzelli’s favorite forms is the “drop” (goccia). These gocce are circular or drop-like forms, evoking raindrops, teardrops, balls, or balloons. Sometimes paired or linked to form a chain, they are often variegated in color—the result of a blending and bleeding of two colors that create a mesmerizing opalescence. Open to numerous associations, they have a multivalent quality. It is this ambiguity of references that Donzelli prizes. At the same time, Donzelli also creates drawings without recourse to the Macchina. However, the ritualistic process of the Macchina endows its drawings with a special aura. The box housing the artist evokes the oracular shrines of ancient Greece and Rome. At these sacred sites, those with questions for certain deities consulted a priest or priestess, whose utterances conveyed the god’s answers. The Macchina also evokes the performances of shaman-like artists such as Joseph Beuys, whose “actions” involved ritualistic gestures and props. The conspicuous absence of Donzelli’s body in his
performances distinguishes them from those of Beuys, in which the latter’s body played a paramount role. In both Beuys’s and Donzelli’s performances, objects remain behind as “relics” of the events—in the case of the Macchina, it is the drawings that are left as traces of the performances. One of the purposes of bringing the Macchina dei Disegni to Portland is to create a body of material that provides a point of departure for making glass “drawings” at the Bullseye Glass factory. Enamored of the rich coloration of this material and the translucency and depth created by the refraction and reflection of light, Donzelli finds analogues in glass for the liquidity of watercolor and its jewel-like tones. The speed and spontaneity that are part of the making of the Macchina drawings are antithetical to the slow and painstaking aspects of working in glass. Collaborating with a team of technicians, Donzelli must adopt a methodical approach, which allows his analytical side to come to the fore. From among the Macchina drawings, he chooses those that are less clearly illustrations of things in the world and thereby more evocative of multiple interpretations. Some of the works in glass feature variants of one or more motifs from the Macchina drawings or from a sketchbook the artist keeps with ideas from past performances. Other glass drawings do not depend at all on any of the Macchina drawings; rather, they build on ideas he has discovered as he has made drawings in glass. In the factory studio, the artist works out his ideas on large sheets of paper or draws directly on sheets of glass with a felt-tip pen. Layers of colored and clear glass sheets, which are selected for their vivid coloration, intriguing striations and textures, and irregular,
deckle edges, are fused by heat to serve as the base or “canvas” on which to lay a variety of glass elements. He uses glass in a variety of forms to make a great quantity of these elements to fashion motifs, many of which have analogues in his drawings on paper. Sheet glass is cut into shapes that are placed on the base layers. Various colors of frit, or crushed glass, produce multicolored areas. Glass powders are sifted over other elements to create gradations of tone. Technicians melt and blend different colored stringers (vermicelli- or spaghetti-like threads of glass), to create drops (gocce) that resemble the opalescent passages in his watercolors. As a result of firing, components may become integrated with the layers beneath them, or lie in heavy relief on top, typically having a melted quality. These glass drawings entail a change in scale: they are much larger than the Macchina drawings, becoming almost 8 x 3 feet. Concurrently with the glass drawing project, and perhaps largely in response to it, Donzelli creates monumental watercolor drawings, analogous in scale to the drawings manipulated by dancers in his recent performance piece Il Contorno delle Cose (The Contour of Things), which was produced in Bergamo in September 2004. Whether spontaneous or planned, Donzelli’s drawings create a world of imaginative forms that seem on the verge of becoming. His drawings invite viewers who are attuned and attentive to multiple resonances to be creatively engaged with these inventive works. FPO working shot Annette Dixon CURATOR OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS Portland Art Museum
2/14/05 5:28:44 PM
Quasi Corpo-ovale, 2004 kilnformed glass 58 1/4 x 36 x 3/8 inches
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Quasi Corpo-ovale, 2004 kilnformed glass 58 1/4 x 36 x 3/8 inches
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2/14/05 5:31:14 PM
Disegno di Sassi, 2004 kilnformed glass 17 1/2 x 20 1/5 x 3/8 inche
La Fontana, 2004 kilnformed glass 17 1/2 x 20 3/4 x 3/8 inches
Bones Dancing, 2004 kilnformed glass 21 x 18 1/5 x 3/8 inches
MAURIZIO DONZELLI
GLASS BRIDGE
Drawing is the most delicate link to memory; it is intuition, it is breath, a pathway between ourselves and our world.
Among their other responsibilities, the Research and Education staff at the Bullseye Glass Co. factory work regularly with artists from other media to introduce them to our materials. Teaching the vocabulary of glass to those whose native languages are ceramics, painting, printmaking or architecture, is always both exhilarating and challenging.
Maurizio Donzelli
A well-known artist within his native Italy and on an international level, Maurizio Donzelli has experimented over the years with a variety of expressive languages in a conceptual vein. Donzelli’s work is a philosophical reflection on art and perception. It is not an abstract reflection, but one realized in the execution of the work. For some years, the primary focus of his aesthetic speculation has been drawing, both as an intellectual and a technical approach. With drawing as an approach he is able to get as close as possible to the junctures between reality, perception, and representation. In large part, his work explores the impossibility of knowing the world with exactitude. It is with drawing that he is able to get
Donzelli05_catalogv6.indd 10-11
as close as possible to the essence of this impossibility, and therefore reveal, often with playfulness, the possibilities contained in reality. A draftsman without bounds, author of the performance-driven Drawing Machine, creator of drawings in media ranging from paper to video to kiln-glass to his Mirrors, Donzelli is a relentless thinker who makes poetry of the infinite possibilities of human action and perception. Sources
Maurizio Donzelli and Ted Sawyer
Our most recent project with Italian artist Maurizio Donzelli included the parallel challenge of communicating in English and Italian with an artist whose conceptual vocabulary can wrinkle the brow of even native-speakers of “la bella lingua.” Struggling from a word in one language to its approximation in another, we find a minefield of assumptions, subtleties and fragile disconnects through which we must tiptoe on our way to understanding.
Costellazione a Forma di Testa, 2004 kilnformed glass 23 x 21 x 3/8 inches
So also Donzelli, moving slowly and sensitively through the medium of glass, has found nuances within its nature that those of us who consider ourselves fluent in its language often take for granted. These include its very essence: its frozen liquidity, its ability to visually capture the transitional moment. For their incredible assistance on the journey, I am grateful to R&E Director Ted Sawyer and his staff, Paul McNulty, Erik Whittemore and Tom Jacobs; to Jeff Phegley and the entire gallery crew; and to Annette Dixon, for her wonderful words on Donzelli’s project with us. Lani McGregor EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The Bullseye Connection February 2005
2/14/05 5:32:16 PM
Disegno di Sassi, 2004 kilnformed glass 17 1/2 x 20 1/5 x 3/8 inche
La Fontana, 2004 kilnformed glass 17 1/2 x 20 3/4 x 3/8 inches
Bones Dancing, 2004 kilnformed glass 21 x 18 1/5 x 3/8 inches
MAURIZIO DONZELLI
GLASS BRIDGE
Drawing is the most delicate link to memory; it is intuition, it is breath, a pathway between ourselves and our world.
Among their other responsibilities, the Research and Education staff at the Bullseye Glass Co. factory work regularly with artists from other media to introduce them to our materials. Teaching the vocabulary of glass to those whose native languages are ceramics, painting, printmaking or architecture, is always both exhilarating and challenging.
Maurizio Donzelli
A well-known artist within his native Italy and on an international level, Maurizio Donzelli has experimented over the years with a variety of expressive languages in a conceptual vein. Donzelli’s work is a philosophical reflection on art and perception. It is not an abstract reflection, but one realized in the execution of the work. For some years, the primary focus of his aesthetic speculation has been drawing, both as an intellectual and a technical approach. With drawing as an approach he is able to get as close as possible to the junctures between reality, perception, and representation. In large part, his work explores the impossibility of knowing the world with exactitude. It is with drawing that he is able to get
Donzelli05_catalogv6.indd 10-11
as close as possible to the essence of this impossibility, and therefore reveal, often with playfulness, the possibilities contained in reality. A draftsman without bounds, author of the performance-driven Drawing Machine, creator of drawings in media ranging from paper to video to kiln-glass to his Mirrors, Donzelli is a relentless thinker who makes poetry of the infinite possibilities of human action and perception. Sources
Maurizio Donzelli and Ted Sawyer
Our most recent project with Italian artist Maurizio Donzelli included the parallel challenge of communicating in English and Italian with an artist whose conceptual vocabulary can wrinkle the brow of even native-speakers of “la bella lingua.” Struggling from a word in one language to its approximation in another, we find a minefield of assumptions, subtleties and fragile disconnects through which we must tiptoe on our way to understanding.
Costellazione a Forma di Testa, 2004 kilnformed glass 23 x 21 x 3/8 inches
So also Donzelli, moving slowly and sensitively through the medium of glass, has found nuances within its nature that those of us who consider ourselves fluent in its language often take for granted. These include its very essence: its frozen liquidity, its ability to visually capture the transitional moment. For their incredible assistance on the journey, I am grateful to R&E Director Ted Sawyer and his staff, Paul McNulty, Erik Whittemore and Tom Jacobs; to Jeff Phegley and the entire gallery crew; and to Annette Dixon, for her wonderful words on Donzelli’s project with us. Lani McGregor EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The Bullseye Connection February 2005
2/14/05 5:32:16 PM
MAURIZIO DONZELLI Born Currently
Brescia, Italy, 1958 Independent studio artist and art instructor, Brescia, Italy
Education/Training University degli Studi Di Venezia, Architecture degree Selected Honors 2003 Spettacolo di Niente, Palazzo Fontana di Trevi Center, National Graphics Institute, Rome (December 10, 2003 - February 1, 2004). Debut of the first edition of engravings to be executed in a series by L’Officina della Calcografia and released by Edizioni Mazzotta, Milan. Drawing Machine events (Macchina dei Diesegni) 2004 Bullseye Connection Gallery, Portland, OR (catalog) Vivai Shullian, in collaboration with Galleria Goethe 2, Bolzano, Italy 2002 Galleria 41 Artcontemporanea, Torino, Italy (catalog) Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporane, Trento, Italy 2001 Massimo Minini, Brescia, Italy (catalog) Nuova Icona, Venezia, Italy (catalog) 2000 Biagiotti Arte Contemporanea, Firenze, Italy (catalog) Neon, Bologna, Italy (catalog)
Donzelli05_catalogv6.indd 12-13
2/14/05 5:32:35 PM
MAURIZIO DONZELLI Born Currently
Brescia, Italy, 1958 Independent studio artist and art instructor, Brescia, Italy
Education/Training University degli Studi Di Venezia, Architecture degree Selected Honors 2003 Spettacolo di Niente, Palazzo Fontana di Trevi Center, National Graphics Institute, Rome (December 10, 2003 - February 1, 2004). Debut of the first edition of engravings to be executed in a series by L’Officina della Calcografia and released by Edizioni Mazzotta, Milan. Drawing Machine events (Macchina dei Diesegni) 2004 Bullseye Connection Gallery, Portland, OR (catalog) Vivai Shullian, in collaboration with Galleria Goethe 2, Bolzano, Italy 2002 Galleria 41 Artcontemporanea, Torino, Italy (catalog) Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporane, Trento, Italy 2001 Massimo Minini, Brescia, Italy (catalog) Nuova Icona, Venezia, Italy (catalog) 2000 Biagiotti Arte Contemporanea, Firenze, Italy (catalog) Neon, Bologna, Italy (catalog)
Donzelli05_catalogv6.indd 12-13
2/14/05 5:32:35 PM
DETAIL IMAGES
Š 2005 Bullseye Glass Co.
page 5 drawings from Donzelli’s Drawing Machine performances, 2004 watercolor, 9 3/4 x 6 7/8 inches each
page 9 Quasi Corpo-ovale (detail), 2004 kilnformed glass, 58 1/4 x 36 x 3/8 inches
page 16
PUBLISHED BY
Bullseye Glass Co. 3722 SE 21st Avenue, Portland, OR 97202 For inquiries about the artist or works shown, please contact:
Voci Intonate Nero (detail), 2004 kilnformed glass, 33 3/4 x 28 1/2 x 3/8 inches
The Bullseye Connection Gallery 300 NW 13th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209
DESIGN
T 503-227-0222 F 503-227-0008 E gallery@bullseyeglass.com
Nicole Leaper PRODUCTION
Jerry Sayer PHOTOGRAPHY
Chris Petrauskas page 1 Ryan Watson Nicole Leaper pages 2, 6, 7, 13 Jerome Hart
Donzelli05_catalogv6.indd 14-15
Gocce 2, 2004 kilnformed glass 52 1/4 x 34 3/4 x 3/8 inches
2/14/05 5:33:52 PM
DETAIL IMAGES
Š 2005 Bullseye Glass Co.
page 5 drawings from Donzelli’s Drawing Machine performances, 2004 watercolor, 9 3/4 x 6 7/8 inches each
page 9 Quasi Corpo-ovale (detail), 2004 kilnformed glass, 58 1/4 x 36 x 3/8 inches
page 16
PUBLISHED BY
Bullseye Glass Co. 3722 SE 21st Avenue, Portland, OR 97202 For inquiries about the artist or works shown, please contact:
Voci Intonate Nero (detail), 2004 kilnformed glass, 33 3/4 x 28 1/2 x 3/8 inches
The Bullseye Connection Gallery 300 NW 13th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209
DESIGN
T 503-227-0222 F 503-227-0008 E gallery@bullseyeglass.com
Nicole Leaper PRODUCTION
Jerry Sayer PHOTOGRAPHY
Chris Petrauskas page 1 Ryan Watson Nicole Leaper pages 2, 6, 7, 13 Jerome Hart
Donzelli05_catalogv6.indd 14-15
Gocce 2, 2004 kilnformed glass 52 1/4 x 34 3/4 x 3/8 inches
2/14/05 5:33:52 PM
Donzelli05_catalogv6.indd 16
2/14/05 5:35:14 PM