De Buck Gallery is pleased to announce an upcoming exhibition of Pino Pinelli titled “Pittura.” The exhibition will be on view from July 20th, 2017, through August 25th, 2017, and an opening reception will be held at the gallery on Thursday, July 20th, from 6-8PM. The exhibition will present 10 artworks that are site-specific to De Buck Gallery 2 exhibition space.

Pinelli’s works explore the essence of painting itself through the innovative use of materials and formal experiments. The artist uses mixed-media geometric forms, which mimics outlines or geometric trails. Pinelli was one of the leading artists of Analytical Painting, defined by art critic Filiberto Menna; he characterized the interest in the material components of the painting and the relationship between the painting itself. Pinelli studied art in Catania, and then moved to Milan in 1963, where he became attracted to the artistic debates of influential artists such as Piero Manzoni, Lucio Fontana, and Enrico Castellani, as well as other artists from the Zero group.

In the early 1970’s Pinelli began paring down his works developing a series of monochrome paintings. From 1973 his works are titled simply “Pittura” or “Painting,” followed by the first letter of their color (R for red). Pinelli’s “Topologies” and “Monochromes” series focus on the painted surface and experiment with the juxtaposition and combination of smaller paintings on a large canvas. Later, in his “Disseminations” series from 1976 the wall itself becomes part of the work thus breaking down the relationship between the painting and its surroundings. In the same years, Pinelli stopped using canvas and instead opted for materials such as flannel, giving the work a tactile component.

Without any fundamental attachment to the space itself in which they reside, Pinelli’s paintings cannot be comfortably categorized without the surrounding themselves informing the work, requiring the walls to become part of the experience and artworks itself. Without the boundaries of a canvas, into often expansive, modular and dynamic forms, the painting takes the expansion of the space itself. Pinelli consistently challenges the traditional conception of painting and enriches the evolving dialogue between art and life itself.

Pino Pinelli has been exhibited internationally in solo exhibitions including Antologia Rossa (2015), Galleria Dep Art, Milano; Paint (2012), Lucca Center of Contemporary Art, Lucca, Italy; Pino Pinelli (2001), APC Galerie, Cologne, Germany. Selected group exhibitions include A New Visual Language (2014), De Buck Gallery, New York; Images of Light, Villa Clerici, Milan (2012); Analytical Painting: 4 Main Players from Italy, Forumkunst, Rottweil, Germany (2011); Normanni, Palermo | Teatro V. Emanuele, Messina | Columbus Citizen Foundation, New York (1998). Selected public collections include MART Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Trento and Rovereto, Italy; Museo del ‘900, Milan, Italy; Museo MADRE, Naples, Italy; Zappettini Foundation in Chiavari, Italy; Dresner Bank in Frankfurt, Germany and Kreissparkasse in Rottweil, Germany.