Alighiero Boetti: Regola e Regolarsi

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Ben Brown Fine Arts has steadfastly exhibited Boetti’s work over the last two decades, with seven solo exhibitions and numerous group shows at both the London and Hong Kong galleries, highlighting our depth of interest and expertise in 20th century post-war Italian art.  This exhibition brings together iconic examples from various periods of Boetti’s oeuvre, including Arte Povera objects, Mappe, Arazzi, Aerei, Faccine, Biro and other experimental works on paper, and a rare rug (Tappeti) and kilim.  Esteemed art historian, curator and critic Mark Godfrey, a Boetti scholar who organized the seminal retrospective Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan for Tate Modern, London, which traveled on to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, has conceived of this exhibition to present Boetti’s work in two distinct embodiments – Regola (‘Rules’) and Regolarsi (‘Adjustments’), as well as a private viewing space of experimental works on paper by the artist.

In the main gallery at 12 Brook’s Mews, Godfrey brings together a group of works exemplifying Boetti’s Regola (‘Rules’), elucidating the key conceptual strategies the artist explored in the late 1960s and 70s that would serve as the foundation of his future practices and investigations.  The works here will demonstrate Boetti’s explorations of serial schemes and systems; his innovative approach to self-portraiture; his use of language; and his way of producing work with the assistance of unknown third parties. 

Alighiero e Boetti: Regola e Regolarsi continues at Claridge’s ArtSpace, where the notion of Regolarsi (‘Adjustments’) is investigated, featuring resplendent Aerei, Biro, Mappe and Arazzi spanning the artist’s career.  While Boetti’s work remained conceptually rigorous, it became more sumptuous, colourful, and expansive.  The scale grew, and the material range too.

At the gallery’s private viewing space at 52 Brook’s Mews a selection of works on paper, including collages, friezes, cut-outs and other experimental pieces, will be exhibited.  While Boetti employed assistants and craftspeople to produce his Biros, to print the outlines of his Mappe, and to embroider his works, he also worked alone in his studio on these kinds of paper works.  He explored many techniques of printing, ink blowing, and tracing, and his paper works have a profound intimacy to them.