Berlin | ArtRegion: Berlin, Mitte

Kewenig Gallery

Giorgio Griffa: Tempo Infinito E Nontempo

5. Februar – 2. April 2022

Giorgio Griffa occupies a singular position in the art world. Born in 1936 in Torino, where he still lives and works today, Griffa began in the mid-1960s to orient his painting towards abstraction. His treatment of paint and also his selection and handling of materials give eloquent testimony to Griffa’s investigations regarding the nature of painting, his own role as an artist, and fundamental questions of space and time.

Giorgio Griffa paints with acrylics on an unprimed canvas. His pictures are not stretched upon a frame but instead are nailed directly to the wall during exhibitions. If they are not put on display, the artist folds and staples the paintings. These folds remain visible in the exhibited works and are a part of the composition.

In the meantime, there are eleven cycles into which Giorgio Griffa organizes his paintings. None of these cycles has been definitively completed; they all coexist as ongoing variations. Individual works can be assigned to more than one cycle; according to Griffa, these are “lines of work that can intersect and merge.”