Giuseppe Penone. Sap and thought.
BNF Editions| N° d'inventaire | 25028 |
| Format | 24 x 30 |
| Détails | 112 p., publisher's hardcover. |
| Publication | Paris, 2021 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782717728316 |
This exhibition catalog offers an immersion into the world of Giuseppe Penone.
His flagship work, Sève et pensée, is presented for the first time: a monumental installation made from a thirty-meter-long acacia trunk, the fruit of 50 years of reflection and creation around subjects dear to the artist: nature, memory and books.
Born in 1947 in Garessio, Italy, Penone is associated with the Arte Povera movement. His work has, since its beginnings, developed a reflection on the relationship between nature and culture.
The exhibition designed by the BnF and the accompanying catalogue reflect the richness of his conceptual explorations – particularly around memory, imprints and books – as well as the diversity of techniques used: sculpture, installations, painting, poetry, etc.
Sap and thought
A unique and masterful work, Sève et pensée is a spectacular installation formed from two segments of the rubbing, on fine linen canvas, of the trunk of a thirty-meter-long acacia. Inscribed on either side of the rubbing unfolds a poetic text, a true "stream of consciousness" of the artist, reflections on art, nature, time, memory, the cycle of life and death.
From Sève et pensée a network of filiations is revealed with chronologically distant works by Giuseppe Penone, from the Alberi libro (Book-trees) , beams stripped of bark and hollowed out until the revelation of the original tree, to the unpublished series Leaves of grass , large paintings which would be like the "fossilization" of the first prints left on the cover of the book by the author and successive readers.
The exhibition will also showcase the artist's remarkable donation of prints to the BnF. These recent works, some of which were created during the spring 2020 lockdown, are presented as intimate notes accompanying the creative process.
Fingerprint and touch reading
In his essay, art historian Francesco Guzzetti explores the notion of identity in Penone's work through the motif of the imprint, whether human, plant, or written.
The book, as an object, is an "imprint": its pages bear those of the hands that wrote them, those of the readers who touched them, browsed them.
This exhibition catalog offers an immersion into the world of Giuseppe Penone.
His flagship work, Sève et pensée, is presented for the first time: a monumental installation made from a thirty-meter-long acacia trunk, the fruit of 50 years of reflection and creation around subjects dear to the artist: nature, memory and books.
Born in 1947 in Garessio, Italy, Penone is associated with the Arte Povera movement. His work has, since its beginnings, developed a reflection on the relationship between nature and culture.
The exhibition designed by the BnF and the accompanying catalogue reflect the richness of his conceptual explorations – particularly around memory, imprints and books – as well as the diversity of techniques used: sculpture, installations, painting, poetry, etc.
Sap and thought
A unique and masterful work, Sève et pensée is a spectacular installation formed from two segments of the rubbing, on fine linen canvas, of the trunk of a thirty-meter-long acacia. Inscribed on either side of the rubbing unfolds a poetic text, a true "stream of consciousness" of the artist, reflections on art, nature, time, memory, the cycle of life and death.
From Sève et pensée a network of filiations is revealed with chronologically distant works by Giuseppe Penone, from the Alberi libro (Book-trees) , beams stripped of bark and hollowed out until the revelation of the original tree, to the unpublished series Leaves of grass , large paintings which would be like the "fossilization" of the first prints left on the cover of the book by the author and successive readers.
The exhibition will also showcase the artist's remarkable donation of prints to the BnF. These recent works, some of which were created during the spring 2020 lockdown, are presented as intimate notes accompanying the creative process.
Fingerprint and touch reading
In his essay, art historian Francesco Guzzetti explores the notion of identity in Penone's work through the motif of the imprint, whether human, plant, or written.
The book, as an object, is an "imprint": its pages bear those of the hands that wrote them, those of the readers who touched them, browsed them.