Si dividono invano – (Carla Accardi) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Carla Accardi

Size: 100 x 240 cm

Museum: Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale. Collezione Farnesina (Rome, Italy)

Technique: Enamel

“The painting of signs was born out of my desire for a tabula rasa.” (BARBERO, 2011,p. 27). As in the case of her husband Sanfilippo,the element of liberation of Carla Accardi’s painting is to be found in the rigorousreduction of reality to sign as a tool for investigation of the world in its essence.The constant of the sign is continually reinvented by the artist, who transfers herartistic graphemes onto supports ranging from canvas to plastic.In the work exhibited here, her sign becomes wood painted in grey enamel to contrastwith the whiteness of the wall. In the bas-relief, shown by Jan Hoet in the MARTaHerford museum, the signs that “divide in vain” reach the gigantic height of abouttwo and a half metres and extend “with slight movements” for twelve metres alongthe white wall as though to compose a message for the viewer: “The sign is not expressionof the unconscious but [...] language of communication. [...] It exists in relationto other signs, with which it forms a structure [...] and acquires magical and intelligentmeaning.” (Ibid., p. 56) (Transl. by Paul Metcalfe per Scriptum, Roma) Bibl: Carla Accardi. Segno e trasparenza, a cura di L.M. Barbero, Cinisello Balsamo 2011.