Page 42 - 50.La Biennale di Venezia issue of World of Art Magazine

BIENNALE VENEZIA

50TH INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION 2003

Dreams and Conflicts - The Dictatorship of the Viewer

Pittura/Painting: When Rauschenberg won the prize, less than a year had passed
From Rauschenberg to Murakami, 1964-2003 since Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, the American dream had
Venice, Museo Correr just been shattered, and with an unprecedented freshness his
1964 was a turning point for the Biennale di Venezia and for the history pictures bore witness to the start of a world in which the media and
of painting: Robert Rauschenberg won the Prize for Painting awarded advertising would loom over everything, from art to literature and
by the President of the Cabinet to a non-Italian artist. Among the works cinema. In Europe and Italy especially, painting was still bogged down
exhibited was Kite, 1963, the painting which will open Pittura/Painting, in an excessive although at times aggressive formalism, as’ in the
one of the sections of the 50th International Art Exhibition in the rooms case of Burn. In America, instead, Pop Art was shattering the most
of the Museo Correr. The exhibition, curated by Francesco Bonami, has sacred tenets of painting, adopting techniques and subjects hitherto
been realised by La Biennale di Venezia and the Musei Civici Veneziani. excluded from any appearance.
In that June of 1964, the universal recognition of the importance of Warhol and Rauschenberg imposed a form of research and speed that
Robert Rauschenberg’s works caused a sensation: for the first time were unheard of in European art, while Jasper Johns went further and
in history, European art lost its predominance to the United States. retreated into a self-referential mannerism from which he was later
This marked the beginning of a hegemony only rarely interrupted or unable to break free but which made him into a cult figure.
weakened since. But 1964 was also the year in which painting entered a long period of
PITTURA/PAINTING
FROM RAUSCHENBERG TO MURAKAMI
Archea Associati /c+s Associati

Enrico Castellani Domenico Gnoli
Superficie bianca, 1970 La souris Blanche sur la nappe, 1967
Acrilico su tela estroflessa e Olio a sabbia su tela
introflessa 130 x 150 cm.
300 x 220 cm. Private Collection
Private Collection
Courtesy Studio Guenzani, Milano

42 WORLD of ART