Emilio Vedova’s De America cycle consists of 14 paintings produced between 1976 and 1977, a special period of time for North America, Italy and the arts. In this exhibition it will be put in motion by a special robotic device designed by Renzo Piano.
All in black and white, these large format paintings reflect Vedova’s longstanding, forceful, expressive dialogue with American art originating in his encounter with the work of Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline in the 1940s. This dialogue continued to develop in the 60’s and 70’s, addressing and interacting with the concerns of students and intellectuals such as Allen Ginsberg and Dore Ashton.
Combining the aesthetic language of the past, the intensity of Futurism, an affinity for the Eastern gesture of the sign, action painting and Abstract Expressionism, the work of Emilio Vedova is widely recognized today as among the most seminal art produced in Post-war Italy.