a review at The Art Institute of California- LA Reviewers: Erin Sharp, Sandro Alberti
1250 31st Street Los Angeles, CA
fen-om | edu, at www.fen-om.com/edu Advanced Image manipulation
instructor: Rouben Mohiuddin
As a preliminary step to reviewing the second assignment in this course (‘Piranesi Mural’), we would like to provide some preliminary insight into the work of GB Piranesi. Also, we have compiled some images of contemporary projects influenced by Piranesi’s art. In the 18th Century, in Europe, it was popular amongst artists to catalog historical origins. Monuments, landmarks, ruins, all these provided inpiration to individuals such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi (At that time in history, people were just beginning to dig up cities of past civilizations; these cities had either been long abandoned or, in the case of Rome, built over). Piranesi went one step further than mere cataloguing, however, by inventing views of ancient ruins and modern Roman structures (such as the foundation of the Castel Sant’Angelo, which would never otherwise be visible, as they were submerged under the Tiber River). This led to the series of etchings of fantastic prison interiors (‘Carceri’). Piranesi’s highly original designs and ideas influenced many artists and literary figures during and beyond his lifetime. Neo-classical designers and early Romantic writers were quick to recognize his eclectic vision. Today, his ‘Prison’ work, with its multiple layers and superimposed elements, lends itself particularly well to the representation of ‘contemporary society’ (complexity, hypermedia, multi-tasking, etc.). In these, imagination intercedes as much as archaeology. Recall that Piranesi’s period also marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (including all of the attending fears regarding machines); this is one reason why the ‘Prison’ fantasies tend somewhat towards darkness and gloom, and employ mechanical devices as appendages to traditional ruins.
Waterworks at Albano.
In Piranesi’s etchings, everything seems to be combined with its opposite, which is in part what yields such intensity in the work (light with dark, rigorous perspectives and confusing/oblique overlays, print-ready and hand-crafted, soft and hard elements, endless growth and despair…). Of these the play of ‘chiaroscuro’ won for him the name of “the Rembrandt of architecture”, and the distortion of perspective helped artistic representation evolve, according to the teachings of Ferdinando Bibiena [‘Scenes seen at an angle’]; this also opened up new vistas in the world of fantasy architecture, breaking loose from practical
requirements in order to explore the imagination. Technically, Piranesi also presents some advances and innovations. He was very precise with the quantities of acid necessary to produce his etchings (exposing his plates multiple times in order to yield various tones), and played with varnish effects as well. His elaborate designs are produced primarily with textures of parallel lines. He was fond of peopling his ruins with Callotlike figures, and, like Callot, makes great use of the swelling line. Over time, some of his pieces would evolve (ie a decade after their first appearance in about 1745, Piranesi returned to the Prisons, darkening them both literally and figuratively).
Views of antiquity.
Foundations at Castel Sant’ Angelo.
Imaginary prisons.
The subject of the work.
At home in the ruin.
Palatial interior.
Contemporary projects.
More contemporary projects.