Massimo Grimaldi
31 May - 08 Jul 2006
MASSIMO GRIMALDI
Massimo Grimaldi’s work examines the functioning of art and the way in which it is perceived, valued, and understood. His research ranges from a continual interrogation of the role of the artist in society, to the power and the limits of aesthetic speculation, to the standards of the production and circulation of images. On the occasion of his third solo show at Zero..., the artist presents six new works.
Egypt (2006) is born of the desire to recount a trip to Egypt through its stereotype. It consists of the extrapolation and re-proposal of a dance from the music video for “Around the World” by Daft punk, directed by Michel Gondry in 1997. A portion of the choreography, featuring a group of four dancers dressed as Egyptian mummies, is repeated here.
Smashed Guitar Inside A Dismantled Tent (2006) consists of an electric guitar that has been wrapped in a camping tent and then smashed. The installation seems to suggest a metaphor that is nonetheless interrupted before every possible justification. One is inclined, then, to think of the relationship between the guitar and the tent not as a relation of meanings, but only of forms, which is to say, as a relation of rhetorical elements that include the spectator as well.
Bohemian Text (Italian version, 2005) and Falling In Love (Italian version, 2006) belong to the text pieces series, which consists of adhesive wall texts. The first is a statement on the status of art and on the conventionality of its values. The second has an intimate character, but its vacuity makes it possible to be considered abstractly.
Barbados 1964 (2006) and Tierra Del Fuego 1966 (2006) are two lightboxes that remain illuminated for a few hours, after which they must be recharged. Their internal lighting can be concentrated at will on different points in the image. The two images were extracted from publications printed in the 1960s, at the beginning of the widespread use of color printing. They could correspond to a common exotic imaginary, but the references to the date of their publication frustrate any further attempt at idealization and appropriation.
© Massimo Grimaldi
Tierra del Fuego 1966
Light box.
diameter 50 cm
Massimo Grimaldi’s work examines the functioning of art and the way in which it is perceived, valued, and understood. His research ranges from a continual interrogation of the role of the artist in society, to the power and the limits of aesthetic speculation, to the standards of the production and circulation of images. On the occasion of his third solo show at Zero..., the artist presents six new works.
Egypt (2006) is born of the desire to recount a trip to Egypt through its stereotype. It consists of the extrapolation and re-proposal of a dance from the music video for “Around the World” by Daft punk, directed by Michel Gondry in 1997. A portion of the choreography, featuring a group of four dancers dressed as Egyptian mummies, is repeated here.
Smashed Guitar Inside A Dismantled Tent (2006) consists of an electric guitar that has been wrapped in a camping tent and then smashed. The installation seems to suggest a metaphor that is nonetheless interrupted before every possible justification. One is inclined, then, to think of the relationship between the guitar and the tent not as a relation of meanings, but only of forms, which is to say, as a relation of rhetorical elements that include the spectator as well.
Bohemian Text (Italian version, 2005) and Falling In Love (Italian version, 2006) belong to the text pieces series, which consists of adhesive wall texts. The first is a statement on the status of art and on the conventionality of its values. The second has an intimate character, but its vacuity makes it possible to be considered abstractly.
Barbados 1964 (2006) and Tierra Del Fuego 1966 (2006) are two lightboxes that remain illuminated for a few hours, after which they must be recharged. Their internal lighting can be concentrated at will on different points in the image. The two images were extracted from publications printed in the 1960s, at the beginning of the widespread use of color printing. They could correspond to a common exotic imaginary, but the references to the date of their publication frustrate any further attempt at idealization and appropriation.
© Massimo Grimaldi
Tierra del Fuego 1966
Light box.
diameter 50 cm