Arte Povera? What's that?
Let's find out what Arte Povera really is!
Today, we’re going to discover what in the world is Arte Povera.
We’ll learn important things about the world of Arte Povera like:
What is Arte Povera?
What is cool, interesting, and important about Arte Povera?
Arte Povera characteristics?
Who created Arte Povera?
Famous artists from this time and Era.
What is Arte Povera?
Arte povera literally means 'poor art' but the word poor here refers to the movement's signature exploration of a wide range of materials beyond the traditional ones of oil paint on canvas, bronze, or carved marble. Materials used by the artists included soil, rags, and twigs.
What cool, interesting, and important things about Arte Povera?
Arte Povera artists proposed an artistic practice that was much more interested in materiality and physicality and borrowed forms and materials from everyday life.
Arte Povera's materials may have been plain and simple, but the ideas were rich. In their work, these artists registered dissent about the direction of society, putting in their art themes such as nationality, immigration, changing environment, rising urbanization, the loss of everything natural, and much more.
A big influence of arte povera is the heyday of the movement, which was from 1967–1972, but its influence on later art has been enduring. It can also be seen as the Italian contribution to conceptual art. In Japan, the mono-ha group looked into the essence of materials and stepped away from technological modernism.
Characteristics of Arte Povera.
Some main Characteristics of Arte Povera are:
Humble materials: Arte Povera's pieces rely on primitive or everyday materials, which the artists often shape or manipulate in unexpected ways. Using these kinds of humble, historic materials carries the intention of critiquing the coldness and minimalism of modern art.
Ironic tone: Arte Povera is often sarcastic or satirical in its distrust of industry, urbanization, and the modern world. It also usually has a biting, bitter, or spiteful edge.
Unconventional forms: The early arte povera movement was concerned with creating avant-garde forms of expression beyond painting. Instead, artists created sculptures, performances, and interactive work challenging the boundaries between the art world and the mundane world.
A common question I've learned is what is the difference between Arte Povera and Minimalism?
The movement mainly opposed the ever-presence of American Minimalism but did not fully reject the mystery it involved - rather, they aimed to remove its scientific rationalism and to create comic, absurd juxtapositions that call to mind the works of Dadaist artists.
Who created Arte Povera?
The term Arte Povera was first introduced in 1967 by the Italian curator and art critic Germano Celant.
When using the phrase, Celant wasn’t specifically referring to a lack of money, but more about making art without the constraints of traditional materials and practices. His pioneering work, alongside a series of successful exhibitions, provided a group identity for many young Italian artists based in Rome, Milan, Turin and Genoa. Arte Povera came onto the scene thanks to a network of urban cultural activity in these areas as Italy was gripped by economic instability and its associated hardship.
Famous Artists of the Arte Povera period
Now let’s take a look at some of the most well-known artists in the Arte Povera period!
Giovanni Anselmo (1934 - 2023) is a self-taught artist known for his sculptural installations created under the Arte Povera movement. An artist of many mediums, he used a vast array of materials, including stone, paint, piles of earth, and even lettuce, to provoke thought and wonder.
Alighiero Boetti (1940 - 1994) Boetti is most famous for a series of embroidered maps of the world, Mappa, created between 1971 and his death in 1994. Informed by his wide travels, Boetti addressed many of the concerns that artists today find equally fruitful; notions related to time and the temporal nature of making art, often with purposeful inefficiency; delegating fabrication to skilled craftspeople; and geopolitics and the social context of labor.
Pier Paolo Calzolari (November 21, 1943) Contemporary Italian artist Pier Paolo Calzolari is best known for his work in the fairly radical Arte Povera group of the 1960s and 1970s, which used unconventional materials and spaces to resist the corporate, capitalist industrialism of the post-war period.
Jannis Kounellis (1936 - 2017) Jannis Kounellis was a Greek-Italian artist who was an integral part of the radical Italian art movement Arte Povera. He is known for his mixture of painting, installation, and performance that probes the boundaries of contemporary art.
Mario Merz (1925 - 2003) A leading artist of the Arte Povera movement in the 1960s who worked in sculpture, painting, installation, and photography. He used ordinary objects and everyday junk while also employing traditional art materials. Recurring themes in his work include the igloo and the Fibonacci sequence.
Luciano Fabro (1936 - 2007) One of the founders of Arte Povera, Luciano Fabro expressed himself through a wide variety of materials and forms. In addition to creating art, Fabro also taught and wrote numerous texts that document his engagement in cultural debate.
Mini Exercise for you!
This week, I want you to explore more on your own and see what else you can discover about the world of Arte Povera. See if you can learn more and explore some of your new favorite artists from this time and art movement.
Have fun learning and exploring!
What did you discover?
I’m curious to see what you discover about Arte Povera. If you also discovered something new about it, I would love to know! (You can comment and share your thoughts below!)
Thank you for reading my fun little discovery and I hope you also get to learn and share your discoveries too!
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