Exhibition for children.Time considered as a spiral of semi-precious stones

21 february 2001 - 10 june 2001

The investigations of Stefano Arienti (Asola, Mantova, 1961) are driven by his continuing analysis of the image and its possible supports.

Drawing on both art history and popular culture, the artist, adopting a variety of procedures, removes certain images from their normal context and through his own creative gesture restores them to a new life cycle.

By means of a process of collection, cancellation and highly original graphic manipulation Arienti bestows a continuous freedom upon the act of drawing, renewing its infinite potential for generating new forms. ntinue on to Glasgow.

For this exhibition which has been designed and conceived especially for our younger visitors, the artist brought together a series of works on glossy paper made in the last two years.

These wall-hung drawings are inspired by a wide array of fabrics the artist has collected – curtains, tablecloths, bedcovers, clothing fabric and furniture coverings – chosen by Arienti for the peculiar cultural cross-pollinations that characterize them. For this reason the artist has selected a surprisingly large sample of these materials where typically African motifs provide inspiration for fabrics produced in India, exotic decorations migrate to Italian made cloth, or else Western patterns are taken up by manufacturers from the far East.

Through a painstakingly slow process, one which is unique to Arienti, the artist has made a drawing of each of the fabrics, interpreting them in a way which gives each work thus realized its own autonomous identity. In this sense the technique of tracing with ordinary felt-tip pens liberates an energy that is capable of creating new images.

The large rug placed on the floor has been installed by the artist to open the exhibition space to the spectators’ own contributions, inviting them to arrange in new architectural shapes and combinations the small rubber balls that lie freely on its surface. Like an enormous sheaf of drawing paper, the rug – of Swedish manufacture – lends itself to receiving the multicolored signs that visitors discover and create through their placement of the rubber spheres.

The various possible geometries constructed by these during the course of the exhibition are in fact the inspiration behind its title Time considered as a spiral of semi-precious stones, taken from one of the artist’s favorite science fiction stories.

Taking part in the action suggested by Arienti thus amounts to experiencing an important element of the artist’s own method, for which the attraction we feel towards the images and motifs that accompany the most seemingly banal objects becomes an occasion for transforming the impersonal into something absolutely singular and personal.

Marcella Beccaria

This exhibition for children is curated by the Castello di Rivoli’s Education Department and forms part of a series of shows designed for the Museum’s ever-increasing number of young visitors. As in the previous editions – Andy Warhol, Carla Accardi, Enrica Borghi – the invited artist has selected and designed the works on display with young children in mind. For the entire duration of the exhibition the Education Department will organize special laboratories designed for children, their families and the schools who wish to develop their interest in contemporary art.