MICHELANGELO PISTOLETTO
MICHELANGELO PISTOLETTO Opening March 6th, 2017 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. 1109 Nuuanu Avenue Honolulu, HI 96817 March 7th – May 31st, 2017 Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. +1 808 724 6877 www.ravizzabrownfield.com info@ravizzabrownfield.com EDITING Mariapia Pedrazzini TEXT Marco Meneguzzo TRANSLATIONS Michael Haggerty, Puakea Nogelmeier GRAPHIC Massimo Dalla Pola COVER IMAGE Senza Titolo 92 1976 mirror, rags site specific dimensions Artwork n.92 from the yellow book “Cento mostre nel mese di ottobre”, Turin, 1976 Unique work Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana Photo by: Alicia Luxem FOLLOWING PAGE Michelangelo Pistoletto 2013 / Louvre, Paris Obelisco e Terzo Paradiso 1976-2013 wood, metal, mirror, polystyrene, fabric Obelisk: 1200x250x250 cm Terzo Paradiso: 1300x500 cm Courtesy: GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana Photo by: Aurélien Mole in collaboration with
ʻO PISTOLETTO MA HONOLULU Na Marco Meneguzzo, unuhi ʻia e Puakea Nogelmeier
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ai ka hopena o nā 1960, ʻike ʻia ʻo Michelangelo Pistoletto a puni ke ao no kāna mau “aniani kilohi,” a mai kinohi mai o ka milenia houʻo ia i ʻike ʻia ai ma muli o kāna papahana puni honua no ka ʻikena pili meheu a pili lāhui, ʻo «Love Difference,” i kapa pū ʻia hoʻi ʻo “Tarzo Paradiso,” ʻo The Third Paradise. He hulina nā hana mua, ma ke ʻano kū lula a ʻūheona, i nā aniani kilohi ma nā kinona like ʻole, mai nā pā aniani kilohi nui i kīnohinohi ʻia me nā kiʻi i pena ʻia a kāpili ʻia paha, a i nā aniani kilohi i ʻoki a hoʻonahā ʻia paha ma nā pā lāʻau nui i hamo kula ʻia, a i ke aka o ke aniani kilohi i uhi ʻia i ka puʻu o kekahi mau kaukani paona o nā welu kapa a lole kahiko. Ke nānā nei kākou i kekahi wā i holomua nui ai kahi kipona kaila pilikino ona a ulu aʻe ka ʻiʻini i ka mea pāheona, i loko o kahi “au nalu nui” o kāna hana, ma kahi o ka makahiki 1965, e noiʻi akula i ia holomua ʻana me kekahi kaʻina pāheona āna i hana iho ai, ʻo ka “Oggetti in meno,” ʻo Less Objects - a ʻo ka pahuhope ka hōʻole ʻana i ka pono e hoʻomaopopo ʻia mai ai ka mea pāheona ma o ke ʻano hoʻokahi o ke kaila me ka lako hana. No laila, i loko nō o ke kaulana ona ma o kāna hana me ke kinona me ka lako o ke aniani kilohi, ʻaʻole pono e kau maka nui i laila, akā, pono e hoʻokuanoʻo i ke ʻano manaʻo e hoʻokele ana i kāna hana. ʻO ia hoʻi, hoʻokino wale nō kāna hana i nā manaʻo ona ma ke ʻano e hoʻokohu ai kāna hana pāheona, ʻo kāna ʻōlelo ponoʻī , ma ke ʻano e pili ai me ke ao nei. ʻO kēia manaʻo ka ʻōnohi o kāna hana pāheona, a pēlā ʻo ia e nalu iho ai ma mua o ka hoʻokino ʻana i ia manaʻo i loko o kēlā a kēia hana pāheona. Inā pēlā, he aha lā kahi ʻōlelo kumu o ka hana a Pistoletto? ʻO ka ʻōlelo keu a ke apo pono ʻana i kāna mau hana, ʻo ia hoʻi ʻo “pilina”.
ʻO kekahi manaʻo mua o «pilina,» ʻo ia ka hui ʻana o nā kānaka a mau mea paha. Akāka kēia manaʻo ma nā hana i pili iā “Love Difference” a me “Terzo Paradiso.” He hoʻomaopopo ʻana ia i ka “ʻokoʻa” – ma waena o nā meheu, ma waena o nā kānaka, a ma waena hoʻi o nā mea o ke kūlana hemolele a ʻano maoli paha o ia mau meheu, a ʻo ka hua nui o kēia “Terzo Paradiso” ka mea i loaʻa ma muli o ka pilina hoʻokohu ma waena o nā ʻano ʻokoʻa, inā hoʻi, wahi a ka mea pāheona, he mea hiki auaneʻi ia mea he pilina ma waena o ke ao kūlohelohe a me ka nohona kanaka. Hoʻokino ʻia maila kēia pilina me ka hōʻailona makemakika no ‘pau ʻole’ - ∞ - i hiki ke hoʻomaopopo ʻia maila ma ke ʻano he kuʻina o nā kiko ʻokoʻa e pili ana me ke kolu o nā kiko, i nui aʻe ma muli o kēia kuʻina. No nā makahiki ʻumikumamālima i hala, ua hoʻopaʻa maila kāna mau hana ma nā wahi like ʻole a me nā lako hana like ʻole i ia kiʻi ma ke ʻano he hōʻailona, ʻo ia hoʻi, ua hoʻololi ihola i ia kiʻi pohihihi a kuhihewa ʻia i hōʻailona i apo ʻia maila
a i hoʻomaopopo pono ʻia ihola. Ma Honolulu kekahi, hoʻokō ihola ka «Terzo Paradiso» i ia manaʻo, ʻo “pilina.” ʻO ka hoʻolauna ʻana i ke kākau ʻili kūikawā me ia hōʻailona pākolu,ʻo ia ka hopena o ia pilina ma waena o ka mea pāheona a me ka poʻe mai nā moku mai i nieniele iā ia, ia poʻe i kuhi mai i ke kākau ʻili ma ke ʻano he meheu a hana kuluma Hawaiʻi, a e ʻike aʻe ana ka poʻe i kā i ia mea ma ko lākou kino i nā kānaka ʻē aʻe i hana like ma ke ʻano he mau lālā o ka lāhui like. Inā ʻaʻole pēlā, hoʻokumu ihola paha lākou i pilina hou me ka poʻe i hōʻike i ka hoihoi i ka hoʻomaopopo ʻana i ia ʻano kākau ʻili i ʻike mua ʻole ʻia maila ma kēia ʻāina o ke kākau ʻili. ʻOi aʻe paha ka paʻakikī o ka hoʻomaopopo ʻana i ka manaʻo “pilina” i loko o nā hana ma ka pōʻai maʻa mau o ka ʻōlelo pāheona, akā, he pono wale e ʻimi ma ʻō aku o ka ʻili o kā kākou e ʻike wale aku ai. Ahuwale ka pilina e kupu mau ana ma waena o ka pāheona a me ka mea e nānā mai ana, akā, he keu ia ʻano mea i kēia hana a Pistoletto. ʻAʻole ma ke kuhi manaʻo wale nō, akā ʻike maka maoli nō hoʻi ka poʻe nānā iā lākou iho ma ka pāheona ʻoiai kū ke aka i ke aniani kilohi. He manaʻo a he hana maʻalahi ia, a ʻoi aʻe ko ia mea hoʻokō ʻana ma muli o ke ʻano ʻumeʻume - hōʻike ka pāheona i ke kino holoʻokoʻa o ka mea nānā, ʻaʻole ka maka kau wale nō - a hōʻike hou ʻia ia ʻikena i kēlā me kēia nānā ʻana mai. Kupu ia hana me kāna mau hana kuʻuna i hana ʻia me nā aniani kilohi a me nā kiʻi, a pēlā ma nā mea i hana ʻia me nā hakina a ʻāpaʻapana aniani kilohi. He laʻana kahi i hakihaki ʻia ai ke aka, a nalo paha kahi māhele no ke kuhi ʻana i ke ʻano ʻāpaʻapana o ka nohona kanaka, no ka mea, ke ʻike kākou “i loko” o kekahi pāheona, ʻaʻole hiki ke ʻalo i ka ʻokoʻa wale o ke ʻano e noʻonoʻo ai, me ke akāka a ma nā hōʻailona, ma ke ʻano ʻokoʻa leʻa mai ke kūlana maʻa mau aku. ʻAno like kahi manaʻo no nā pilina ka mea i hoʻokumu ʻia ma kāna mau hana i kupu mai loko mai o kāna mea kaulana ʻo “Venere degli stracci,” o ka makahiki 1968, e laʻa me “Senza titolo (Metamorfosi),” i haku ʻia maila i ka makahiki 1976, a e ʻike ʻia ana ma kēia hōʻike; hoʻokaʻawale ʻia akula ke ahu welu kapa a lole kahiko e ke aniani kilohi pālua. Kalakoa nā lole ma kekahi ʻaoʻao, a keʻokeʻo wale nō nā mea ma kekahi ʻaoʻao. ʻOiai ʻike wale ʻia ka hoʻohapa ʻia mai a me nā ʻaoʻao ʻokoʻa, hoʻopiha ihola ke aniani i kēlā ʻaoʻao a i kēia ʻaoʻao, me he mea lā piha kahi ʻaoʻao i nā ʻano lole like loa, ʻo ke keʻokeʻo hoʻi a i ʻole ke kalakoa wale nō. Komo nā mea nānā i ka pilina me ka pāheona, a ma muli o ka hiki ke “ʻike” ma ʻō aku o ka ʻikena, ke aka ma ke aniani a me kona kiʻi ʻoluʻolu, hiki ke hoʻomaopopo i ka like ʻole o ka puʻu welu lole, i ka ʻoki ʻana (a ke aniani kilohi i mau hapa), kahi mea e ālai ana i ka ʻikena o ka huina holoʻokoʻa, a i ke kū ʻana o ka puʻu lole ma muli wale nō o ka pilina o nā hapa ʻelua. A eia hou nō, ʻo ke ʻano hiki o ka “pilina” ka mana e alakaʻi ana i ka ʻike maopopo, a ʻo ia nō “ka hoʻokahi” o ka mana alakaʻi ma mua o ka ʻike maopopo.
PISTOLETTO IN HONOLULU Marco Meneguzzo
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ichelangelo Pistoletto is internationally known, from the late sixties, for its “mirrors” and, since the new millennium, the global campaign to raise awareness of intercultural and interethnic “Love Difference”, also known as “Third Paradise”. The former are essentially the ethical and aesthetic variation of the mirror in all possible formalization: broad-mirrored surfaces partially occupied by silk-screened and applied figures, mirrors cut or crushed by large gilded frames, the appearance of mirrors surrounded by tons of rags and second hand clothes. It is a “figure” staff of such success that the artist himself, in a very ‘ideological’ period of his activity, around 1965, he questioned with a series of objects - the “Minus Objects” - whose intention was to negate the need for the artist to be identified with a single form or a single material. Thus, even if the shape and the material-mirror-mirror are what sets his most celebrated work, it is not on the form that you must dwell, but rather on the attitude operational. In other words, the shape is not the materialization of an attitude that you have towards their own art, their own language, in relation to the world, and it is this attitude the heart of art, the way we consider it before its transformation into this or that form. So what is the key word for the work of Pistoletto? The word that is able to comprehend more all of his work is “relationship.” “Report” means first of all “encounter” between people, between things, between people and things. This concept is very evident in the actions related to “Love Difference” and the “Third Heaven”. The understanding of “difference”, in fact, implies first thing in the recognition of this difference - between cultures, between human beings, between the ideal and physical products of these cultures ... -, and the achievement of the “Third Heaven” is the result of the harmonious relationship between the differences though, as the artist says, it can only be the union between nature and culture, in a sign formally close to that of mathematical ‘’ infinite ‘- ∞ - and visually understandable how union of two separate cores, which combine in a third largest core, as a result of the union. Over the last fifteen years the repeated actions of this concept, made in different places and with many different objects that always built that triple the figure, have made that sign a symbol, that is, have transformed an initially incomprehensible and “wrong sign” a symbol recognized and accepted. Even here in Honolulu on “Third Paradise” responds perfectly to the concept of “relationship”: a proposal for
a temporary tattoo with the triple sign / symbol is in fact the result of interaction between the artist and his interlocutors in the islands, which have identified tattoo one of the culturally typical of Hawaii expressions, and in turn those who take on your body will recognize as belonging to the same “tribe” who did the same, or establish a new relationship with whom, curiously, will understand more about the meaning of a tattoo never seen before in the land of tattoos ... More difficult to recognize the attitude of “relationship” in the most traditionally belonging to the language of art works, but however it is simply to go beyond the vision surface. It ‘obvious that a relationship is always established between the artwork and the viewer, but in this Pistoletto’s more: the beholder, in fact, sees literally - and not just metaphorically - in the work itself because there is mirrored inside: have a concept and operation simple, and therefore very effective, because the attraction, the capture by the work of the entire body of the spectator, and not only of his gaze, is renewed every glance. This happens in the classic work in mirroring surface with figures, as in those with only mirrors, for example, crushed or cut, where also the figure is fragmented or partially missing, suggesting an existential condition precisely shattered or partial, because when there is he sees “inside” a work of art is inevitable thought of differently, synthetic and symbolic, far away from stress contingency. A similar idea, but not the same, the report also states in works derived from the famous “Venus of the Rags” in 1968, as in “Untitled (Metamorphosis)” created in 1976 and exhibited in shows, where a pile of rags and used clothing is divided in half by a double mirror, and while on the one hand the clothes are multicolored, on the other they are all white, so that when we see perfectly well that they are two different half, the mirror doubles every half supplementing and making seem on the one hand and on the other that all the overlapping is composed of uniform clothing, or all white or all colored: only our ability to “see” beyond appearance, the mirror’s reflection and its pleasant illusion, It allows to understand that the set of rags is not uniform, that the division (of the mirror in two halves) prevents a true perception of the whole, that the mountain of clothes is such only if formed by both halves. Once again, the “relationship” capacity for knowledge makes it “the” first knowledge engine.
Michelangelo Pistoletto was born in Biella in 1933. He began to exhibit his work in 1955 and in 1960 he had his first solo show at Galleria Galatea in Turin. An inquiry into self-portraiture characterizes his early work. In the two- year period 1961-1962 made the first Mirror Paintings, which directly include the viewer and real time in the work, and open up perspective, reversing the Renaissance perspective that had been closed by the twentieth-century avant-gardes. These works quickly brought Pistoletto international acclaim, leading, in the sixties, to one-man shows in important galleries and museums in Europe and the United States. The Mirror Paintings are the foundation of his subsequent artistic output and theoretical thought. In 1965 and 1966 he produced a set of works entitled Minus Objects, considered fundamental to the birth of Arte Povera, an art movement of which Pistoletto was an animating force and a protagonist. In 1967 he began to work outside traditional exhibition spaces, with the first instances of that “creative collaboration” he developed over the following decades by bringing together artists from different disciplines and diverse sectors of society. In 1975-76 he presented a cycle of twelve consecutive exhibitions, Le Stanze, at the Stein Gallery in Turin. This was the first of a series of complex, year-long works called “time continents”. Others are White Year (1989) and Happy Turtle (1992). In 1978, in a show in Turin, Pistoletto defined two main directions his future artwork would take: Division and Multiplication of the Mirror and Art Takes On Religion. In the early eighties he made a series of sculptures in rigid polyurethane, translated into marble for his solo show in 1984 at Forte di Belvedere in Florence. From 1985 to 1989 he created the series of “dark” volumes called Art of Squalor. During the nineties, with Project Art and with the creation in Biella of CittadellarteFondazione Pistoletto and the University of Ideas, he brought art into active relation with diverse spheres of society with the aim of inspiring and producing responsible social change. In 2003 he won the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion for Lifelong Achievement. In 2004 the University of Turin awarded him a laurea honoris causa in Political Science. On that occasion the artist announced what has become the most recent phase of his work, Third Paradise. In 2007, in Jerusalem, he received the Wolf Foundation Prize in the Arts, “for his constantly inventive career as an artist, educator and activist whose restless intelligence has created prescient forms of art that contribute to fresh understanding of the world.” He is the Artistic Director of Evento 2011 – L’art pour une ré-évolution urbaine in Bordeaux. In 2010 he wrote the essay The Third Paradise, published in Italian, English, French and German. In 2011 he was the artistic director of Evento 2011 – L’art pour une ré-évolution urbaine in Bordeaux. In 2012 he started promoting the Rebirth-day, first worldwide day of rebirth, celebrated every year on 21st December with initiatives taking place all around the world. In 2013 the Louvre in Paris, in collaboration with GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana, hosted his personal exhibition Michelangelo Pistoletto, année un – le paradis sur terre. In this same year he received the Praemium Imperiale for painting, in Tokyo. In 2014 the symbol of the Third Paradise was installed in the hall of the headquarters of the Council of the European Union in Bruxelles for the period of the Italian Presidency of the European Council. In May 2015 he received a degree honoris causa from the Universidad de las Artes of Havana in Cuba”. In the same year he realizes a work of big dimensions, called Rebirth, situated in the park of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, headquarters of the UN.
Michelangelo Pistoletto The Third Paradise What is the Third Paradise? It is the fusion between the first and second paradise. The first is the paradise in which humans were fully integrated into nature. The second is the artificial paradise, developed by human intelligence to globalizing proportions through science and technology. This paradise is made of artificial needs, artificial products, artificial comforts, artificial pleasures, and every other form of artifice. Humankind has created a truly artificial world which has triggered, in an exponential manner and in parallel with beneficial effects, irreversible processes of decline and consumption of the natural world. The Third Paradise is the third phase of humanity, realized as a balanced connection between artifice and nature. The Third Paradise is the passage to a new level of planetary civilization, essential to ensure the survival of the human race. To this purpose we first of all need to re-form the principles and the ethical behaviours guiding our common life. The Third Paradise is the great myth that leads everyone to take personal responsibility in the global vision. The term “paradise” comes from the Ancient Persian and means “protected garden”. We are the gardeners who must protect this planet and heal the human society inhabiting it. The symbol of the Third Paradise, a reconfiguration of the mathematical infinity sign, is made of three consecutive circles. The two external circles represent all the diversities and antinomies, among which nature and artifice. The central one is given by the compenetration of the opposite circles and represents the generative womb of a new humanity. Michelangelo Pistoletto, 2003