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Alighiero e Boetti

February 10–March 31, 2001
555 West 24th Street, New York

Alighiero E Boetti, Mappa, 1988 Embroidery, 45 ½ × 86 ½ inches (115.6 × 219.7cm)

Alighiero E Boetti, Mappa, 1988

Embroidery, 45 ½ × 86 ½ inches (115.6 × 219.7cm)

Alighiero E Boetti, Aerei, 1980–85 Ballpoint pen on paper laid down on canvas, 24 ¼ × 53 1/14 inches (61.6 × 134.8cm)

Alighiero E Boetti, Aerei, 1980–85

Ballpoint pen on paper laid down on canvas, 24 ¼ × 53 1/14 inches (61.6 × 134.8cm)

Alighiero E Boetti, Mimetico, 1967 Camouflage fabric, 69 × 118 inches (175.3 × 299.7cm)

Alighiero E Boetti, Mimetico, 1967

Camouflage fabric, 69 × 118 inches (175.3 × 299.7cm)

Alighiero E Boetti, Alternating 1 to 100 and Vice Versa, 1993 Woven fabric (kilim), 112 × 107 ½ inches (284.5 × 273cm)

Alighiero E Boetti, Alternating 1 to 100 and Vice Versa, 1993

Woven fabric (kilim), 112 × 107 ½ inches (284.5 × 273cm)

Alighiero E Boetti, Mappa, 1972 Embroidery, 63 × 93 inches (160 × 236.2 cm)

Alighiero E Boetti, Mappa, 1972

Embroidery, 63 × 93 inches (160 × 236.2 cm)

About

Gagosian Gallery, in conjunction with the Archivio Boetti in Rome, is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by the Italian conceptual artist Alighiero e Boetti. Providing help with research and loaned works, this is the Archivio's first collaboration with a commercial gallery.

The exhibition is comprised of examples from some of the artist's most important series, including Camouflage canvases from the 1960s, Alternating 1 to 100 and Vice Versa kilims from the 1990s and the well-known Maps from 1971–1992. The show will also include two significant self-portrait sculptures, one from the beginning of his career, Me Sunbathing in Turin on 19 January 1969, and another from the end, Self-Portrait, 1993.

Boetti often conceived of an idea for a work of art but left its design and execution to others, recruiting people from all walks of life to carry out his concepts. The last major series Boetti completed before his death in 1994, the Alternating from 1 to 100 and Vice Versa kilims were in many ways a culmination of the themes and methods he used throughout his life. The artist invited 50 friends, relatives and groups of students from different art schools throughout France to create the designs based on a 10 × 10 grid of alternating black and white squares. The original idea specified the constraints for the execution of the design, but the plausible variations meant that the individual results were quite varied. The designs were translated to kilims woven by Afghani refugees living in Peshawar, Pakistan.

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