2001: The Indecipherable Future. Manuscripts and writing 2000-2001. Unpredictability is born of a work, which though 'written' and therefore legible, claims it is indecipherable; and this very paradox introduces the possibility of interpretation as the other side of unpredictability. If a revelatory reading is not possible then the action which happens is the interpretation that, in as much as it is subjective, is not scientifically predictable, but depends rather on the convergence and coincidence of actions, signs, traces.
2001: The Indecipherable Future
manuscripts and writing 2000 - 2001
"Unpredictability is born of a work, which though "written"
and therefore legible, claims it is indecipherable; and this
very paradox introduces the possibility of interpretation as
the other side of unpredictability. If a revelatory reading is
not possible then the action which happens is the
interpretation that, in as much as it
is subjective, is not scientifically predictable, but depends
rather on the convergence and coincidence of actions, signs,
traces. Thus, the future is indecipherable, because it is
unpredictable, although it is possible
to intuit the future (even dreams are intuitions) thanks to
the interpretations one gives it. Like in the work of Barrile,
the graphic traces can be interpreted in many ways
simultaneously, by many people, so the future is rigorously
indecipherable and at the same time interpretable - in an
absolutely subjective way".
Francesca D'Antona
"I think one can say that the primary operational act in
Barrile is one of transliteration, not yet a shift
(metaphorical, for example), unless it be a passage which
concerns space- and the intervals in space.
Also, because in the last cases of his writing there is no
color to induce a perceptive variability of the emotional
kind, in opposition to the starkness (which does not mean
innocence) of calligraphy, striving to imitate though it
cannot, mainly because of the artist's choices, because of the
fragmentation he subjects
the writing to, "intending" it toward an end. So what is seen
is inevitably read, and what is read (or intended) reflects
itself in the formative signs of the words, moving them
ambiguously into a code of painting. Behind this, from a
formal point of view, one can glimpse if one wishes the
refinement of ancient manuscript pages, or the simplicity, or
even obviousness of some daily note, with no apparent
distinction between them.
Barrile doesn't reveal the sources of the writing he uses, for
example, precisely in order to avoid the eventual refractory
effect which would occur if one knew it was the writing of
Foscolo rather than that of the next door neighbor. Barrile
tries to treat the various (examples) of calligraphy as
objects, and yet this is not enough to render them- so to say,
inoffensive. Once laid out on the page, a mechanism comes into
play quite similar to that used by Mallarme for his
disseminations. And so the transliteration becomes
translation.
Roberto Sanesi
Opening Reception: Wednesday, February 13, 2002, 6-8 p.m.
Gallery hours are Tues.- Sat 11- 5
p.m.
BIOGRAPHY:
Paolo Barrile, born in Milan in 1925, is a behaviorist and
environmental artist.
In 1947 he interrupted his studies in architecture in the
third year to pursue his vocation
for the cinema. He worked as a trainee with the set designer
"Watckewitch," then with Cocteau, Billon and Cayatte. He left
Milan with the second wave of the "young Milan lions" (Teo
Usuelli, Riccardo Chione, Marco Ferreri) to work in films in
Rome and Venice with Jacopo Comin. He wrote articles and
interviews for Mino Doletti's weekly magazine "Film". He wrote
and directed with Nerino Bianchi the short film "Indiani alla
Bovisa, 1948), produced the documentary "San Francesco del
Deserto" (St. Francis of the Desert, 1948) directed by Jacopo
Comin and Aldo Rossi, and wrote, produced and directed the
documentary "La scultura romanica in Italia" (Romanesque
sculpture in Italy, 1949). Disgusted by the film world, he
returned to Milan, went back to University and took a degree
in engineering. In 1952 he approached painting, which he soon
started to perceive in a "materic" way.
His production can be divided into the following periods:
1960: "Case d'Abruzzo" (Houses in Abruzzo, oil-paintings with
incorporated fillers)
1960-69: Period of the pastel, acrylic and "materic" "small
paintings" (man is an island)
1971-1972: The "red" period (poly"materic", the memories of
time)
1973: The "white" period (bituminous masses, finds,
outcrops, torsos, figures)
1974: Period of "architecture" ("polymateric" with sand and
earth, verdigris)
1975: Period of the "graffiti surfaces"
1976-1993: "The Histories"
1989-1995: "Afgoi" period
1993-1997: "Writing and graffiti" period
1999-2001: "Sanesi" period (manuscripts)
In 1969 he started his "Message Earth" action and in 1975 he
pronounce his "Message Earth" manifesto.
In 1957 he exhibited his works for the first time. He has
participated in about two hundred group and collective
exhibitions. He lives and works in Milan.
Selected Shows
1971 - Fondazione Europa, Milan
1972 - Galleria Pater, Milan
1973 - Galleria Triade, Turin
1974 - Galleria SM 13, Rome
1975 - Galleria Domenicani, Bolzano, Italy
1976 - Galleria Triade, Turin
1977 - Galleria Inquadrature 33, Florence
1978 - Mercato del Sale, Milan
1980 - Galleria 2000, Bologna
1982 - Five Towers Micro Hall Center, Augustfehen, Germany
- Berry College, Mt. Berry, GA, USA
1983 - Rochester Institute of Technology, College of Fine &
Applied Arts, Rochester, N.Y., USA
1989 - Micro Hall Center, Edewecht, Germany
1990 - De Media, Eeklo, Belgium
1991 - Moon Gallery, Mt. Berry, Ga, USA
1992 - Forum 'Kunst und Schule', Guetersloh, Germany
1993 - Centro Ponte delle Gabelle, Milan
1994 - Galerie Galerij, Zierikzee, Holland
1996 - Lietuvos Kulturos Fondas, Vilnius, Lithuania
1997 - Galerie Bertrand Kass, Innsbruck, Austria
- Circolo Culturale Il Gabbiano, La Spezia, Italy
- Galleria Antonio Battaglia, Milan
- Galleria Antonio Battaglia, Milan
- Galerie Eterso, Paris
2000 - Theatre Des Capucins, Luxembourg
- Centro Luigi Di Sarro, Rome
- Galleria Antonio Battaglia, Milano
2001 - Forum CST, Cinisello Balsamo (Milan)
- Collezione Santini, Milan
- Antonio Battaglia Arte Contemporanea, Milan
2002 - American European Fine Art, New York, U.S.A.
American European Fine Art
1100 Madison Avenue, Suite 6A, New York, NY10028
T: 212 517-4010 F: 212 439-9114