Third tome / 2

ALIGHIERO BOETTI
GENERAL CATALOGUE
THIRD TOME /  2
EDITED BY: ARCHIVIO ALIGHIERO BOETTI

The cataloguing work, undertaken by the Alighiero Boetti Archive with the Electa publishing house, continues with the second part of the third tome covering the years 1980 – 1987. It includes the numerous works on paper both delegated and made by Boetti, the production of the small embroideries, the Planes made with mixed techniques, the editions and the re-mades, that is, the “takes” of conceptual and Arte Povera works.

The progressive work of studying and cataloging Boetti’s work allows for increased knowledge, integration of updates, expanded analysis of the art-historical context, and, upon completion of the publication-which will include a final and fourth tome-the entirety and complexity of the artist’s production.

This second part of the third tome does not follow a chronological presentation of the works (as was the case in the first and second tomes), nor typological (as in the first volume of the third tome). The works are divided into thematic chapters through a selection of Alighiero Boetti’s solo exhibitions. The exhibits that open the individual chapters, where possible, are accompanied by documents related to the setting up of the exhibition in order to give back the idea of the exhibition space as the artist conceived it.

Reasoning essentially on the major thematic cycles, their technical and morphological analysis is privileged and thus their belonging to the relevant ‘family’ such as, by way of example, Nature a dull affair, Between Self and Self, Covers, Planes. Cycles that offer a reflection on Boetti’s poetics, creating a true diary of the artist.

A text by Mark Godfrey, the publication’s scientific director, introduces the volume.