2 X BLACK AND A PIECE OF WHITE

2006/2007

inkjet print on paper
series of 11 photographs, 12.5 x 11.8 cm each

While visiting the 'Light Sculpture' exhibition, curated by Simone Menegoi at 503 Mulino in Vicenza, Italy, I tried to set up a dialogue between a white sheet of paper and the two glass squares, covered with black pigment, which belong to the '2 x black' sculpture by Rolf Julius.
It is a way to relate to the author of that sculpture, and pay homage to him.

 

A plain white sheet of paper is used by Paolo Inverni as an element of addition, interference and dialogue with a pre-existing work by German artist Rolf Julius, 2 x Black (2001), consisting of two glass squares covered by black pigment. A subtle intervention is frozen inside the frame of a series of photographs, a minimal outline of intersecting shapes opens up into hidden narratives.
Turin-based artist Inverni operates by small additions and juxtapositions, on the very border between frames and formats, on those hinges which are left unspoken within visual narrations. He is a storyteller, but his narratives unveil in absentia. His art is one of near-invisible actions and ironic, understated comments.
2 x Black and a Piece of White lies between documentation and action: it defies each one of these categories by ceaselessly referring to the next one. Inverni's way of juxtaposing pre-existing elements with newly created, subtle touches, is neither entirely conceptual as it retains a sense of warmth thoughout, nor does it ever indulge in sheer contemplation, given the rigour of its structure. A silent dimension opens up, alongside unnoticed details and visual bends which are usually overlooked. Borrowing a phrase from Bas Jan Ader, 'in search of the miraculous', one could say that Inverni's search for the miraculous lies within memories. Rather than a visual remix, as 2 x Black and a Piece of White has been called, one could talk of an archaeology of vision: the implied structural and conceptual movement here is not only forward, but also backwards, digging into history and into stories lost, missed or imagined.

Daniela Cascella, 'Contemporary' magazine, annual 2008, 2009