Initially dedicated to figuration, Griffa underwent a transformative shift in direction of abstraction in 1968. Utilizing acrylic paints on uncooked and unstretched canvas, his works are boldly nailed to the wall, anchored alongside the higher edge. Griffa prefers to work on the ground, making certain that colors stay undisturbed, as he eloquently places it, “with out a body, strolling on the canvas, leaning on it, and leaving the imprint of my hand.”

Griffa’s artwork attracts its essence from minimal and primal symbols—traces, traces, curves, and numbers—and divulges his deep fascination with quantum vitality, arithmetic, and the golden ratio. By these components, his works exude a steady, natural vitality, achieved by deliberately shortened traces and brushstrokes, permitting the canvas to stay uncluttered and unfilled. Somewhat than presenting a elegant end result, they encapsulate a second of the inventive course of in movement.

Griffa’s apply embodies a wide-ranging exploration, embracing disciplines, theories, and philosophies. A defining attribute is the division of his creations into cycles—fluid, perpetual streams intermingling with out confinement to any definitive endpoint. As Griffa remarks, “these cycles harmoniously coexist, transcending the notions of progress or regression; they embody an everlasting evolution.”

Within the cycle Tre Linee con Arabesco, which took root within the Nineties, every work boasts a trio of traces and an arabesque, individually recognized by a progressive quantity. As Giorgio Griffa elucidates, “the primary paintings bears the primary, the second takes on the mantle of quantity two, and so the sequence unfolds.” This numerical chronology lends a novel distinction to every creation, highlighting the sequence through which the artist’s marks grace the canvas, symbolising a journey by means of each time and area.

Griffa’s work weaves collectively easy gestures, vivid colors, and uncooked canvas, forming the very essence of pure inventive expression. The muse of simplicity, and even minimalism, in Griffa’s apply stays unblemished by any exterior motivations. The intrinsic worth of “artwork for artwork’s sake” reigns supreme, guarding in opposition to any makes an attempt to dilute or compromise the profound authenticity on the core of his inventive apply. From as early as 1972, Griffa fearlessly proclaimed: “I don’t signify something, I paint.”

at MASSIMODECARLO, London
till October 5, 2023