Sergio Sarri
b. 1938, Turin, Italy
Il Grande Prestigiatore (The Great Magician)
1967
Oil on canvas
120 x 120 cm (47.2 x 47.2 in.)
Provenance
Private collection, Milan;
Aurum Fine Art Society, Reggio Emilia;
Davide Racabelli, Rome.
Literature
U. Paganini, C. Ragni (curated by), Sergio Sarri. Opere dal 1964 al 2008. Catalogo ragionato. Sergio Sarri, catalogue of the exhibition, Galleria Due Mondi, Rome 196. Overtime Art, Forlì 2009, p. 46, n° 42c;
Sergio Sarri, Mitomacchina 1966-1979, Pavia 2016, p. 11;
W. Guadagnini, S. Roffi (curated by), Italia pop. L'arte negli anni del boom. Catalogue of the exhibition, Cinisello Balsamo, 2016, p. 136.
Description
Sergio Sarri was born in Turin in 1938 and the beginning of his artistic career dates to the early 1960s after a two year journey around Europe where he undertook painting courses in Bern and Paris.
His central theme (the relationship between man and the machine) emerges for the first time in 1965 while traveling in the United States, working in the sphere of mechanistic imagery that has its roots in Léger and in North American artists such as Richard Lindner (Crispolti, 1968).
His work was included in "Prospettive 3" in Rome (1967) and "Alternative attuali 3" in L'Aquila (1968), exhibitions highlighting new generations of artists. Then, in 1968 he exhibited at the Musée Municipal de Saint-Paul de Vence, where he presented the altarpieceThe adventures of Nobody.
On 23 May 1969 he inaugurated the first exhibition of Vinciana Gallery in Milan, which initiated a collaboration that would last for several decades.
He participates, together with Giovanni Anselmo, Giovanni Cappelli and Concetto Pozzati in the collective "Quelques tendances de la jeune peinture italienne", organized in 1971 by the Galerie Motte in Paris, a show that will also be held at the Galerie Isy Brachot in Brussels. That same year he attended in the traveling exhibition "Objectivity and commitment", with participation of artists from Italy and Germany and exhibitions in major cities of both countries. 1972 was an important year: the Gallery Sangallo of Florence organizes an exhibition of Sergio Sarri, Valerio Adami, Roberto Sebastian Matta, Victor Vasarely, Luca Alinari and Giuliano Ghelli, he also had a solo show at Galleria Forni in Bologna.
Particularly significant, in that same year, is his participation in the exhibition "The object Metamorphosis" at the Palazzo Reale in Milan with the piece Work Plan, an exhibition which includes the presence of important Italian (including Balla, Carra, Savinio, De Chirico, Baj, Ceroli, Del Pezzo, Pozzati, Scanavino, Rotella) and foreign artists (as Hans Arp, Man Ray, Dennis Oppenheim, René Magritte, Salvador Dali, Arman, Jean Dubuffet, Daniel Spoerri, Antoni Tapies, Andy Warhol), representing different artistic movements: Pop Art and Nouveau Realism, from Neo-Dada to figuration, from Cubism to Surrealism.
In 1974 he received a scholarship from the Museum of Modern Art in Amsterdam, where he exhibited at the Galerie-T; in the same year then he participates in the exhibition "Come eravamo" at the Galleria Centro in Turin that, in this way, brings together 20 artists operating in the artistic atmosphere of Turin in the sixties, including Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz, Piero Gilardi, Ugo Nespolo, Aldo Mondino, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Giorgio Griffa.
The period between 1977 and 1980 is characterized by a series of solo and group shows organized in France (in Grenoble, Paris, Sceaux, Macon and Tours) including the important Mythologies Quotidiennes, at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, with Valerio Adami, Franco Angeli, Enrico Baj, Giosetta Fioroni, Lucio Del Pezzo, Aldo Mondino, Ugo Nespolo, Gio Pomodoro, Mario Schifano, Giangiacomo Spadari, Emilio Tadini and, also in Paris, a year later, " Image - Intervention "at the Institut Culturel Italien, with Leonardo Cremonini, Titina Maselli.
In 1981 he is present together with Alviani, Bonalumi, Scheggi, Castellani, Uncini, Accardi, Capogrossi, Adami, Baj, Del Pezzo, Angeli and others in the exhibition "30 Anni di Arte Italiana 1950-1980" at Villa Manzoni, Lecco.
Sarri’s works, in the nineties, are characterized by the theme of "Panorama", with exhibitions at Gastaldelli Gallery in Milan, the Museum of Modern Art of Mantova Gazoldo degli Ippoliti, the Galleria Ca 'd'Oro in Rome at the Galleria Mazzoleni (Nuova Gissi) in Turin and at Galleria San Michele di Brescia. From 1994 to 1997 he was also Professor of Artistic Anatomy at the Academy of Brera in Milan. He exhibited for the first time in New York at the Montserrat Gallery in 1996 and, later, in 1998.
Il grande prestigiatore encapsulates the main themes of Sarri’s practice by depicting the relationship between man and the machine. The car and the robotic figure became characteristic of Sarri's work after he travelled to the United States before creating the present work. The mechanistic imagery suggests the influence of Pop Art and mass culture with the subject matter taken from the everyday and ordinary life but emphasizing bright and exuberant colours. The black bold outlines of the composition recall comic books, as well as the works of Roy Lichtenstein.
The artwork described above is subject to changes in availability and price without prior notice.
Where applicable ARR will be added.
His central theme (the relationship between man and the machine) emerges for the first time in 1965 while traveling in the United States, working in the sphere of mechanistic imagery that has its roots in Léger and in North American artists such as Richard Lindner (Crispolti, 1968).
His work was included in "Prospettive 3" in Rome (1967) and "Alternative attuali 3" in L'Aquila (1968), exhibitions highlighting new generations of artists. Then, in 1968 he exhibited at the Musée Municipal de Saint-Paul de Vence, where he presented the altarpieceThe adventures of Nobody.
On 23 May 1969 he inaugurated the first exhibition of Vinciana Gallery in Milan, which initiated a collaboration that would last for several decades.
He participates, together with Giovanni Anselmo, Giovanni Cappelli and Concetto Pozzati in the collective "Quelques tendances de la jeune peinture italienne", organized in 1971 by the Galerie Motte in Paris, a show that will also be held at the Galerie Isy Brachot in Brussels. That same year he attended in the traveling exhibition "Objectivity and commitment", with participation of artists from Italy and Germany and exhibitions in major cities of both countries. 1972 was an important year: the Gallery Sangallo of Florence organizes an exhibition of Sergio Sarri, Valerio Adami, Roberto Sebastian Matta, Victor Vasarely, Luca Alinari and Giuliano Ghelli, he also had a solo show at Galleria Forni in Bologna.
Particularly significant, in that same year, is his participation in the exhibition "The object Metamorphosis" at the Palazzo Reale in Milan with the piece Work Plan, an exhibition which includes the presence of important Italian (including Balla, Carra, Savinio, De Chirico, Baj, Ceroli, Del Pezzo, Pozzati, Scanavino, Rotella) and foreign artists (as Hans Arp, Man Ray, Dennis Oppenheim, René Magritte, Salvador Dali, Arman, Jean Dubuffet, Daniel Spoerri, Antoni Tapies, Andy Warhol), representing different artistic movements: Pop Art and Nouveau Realism, from Neo-Dada to figuration, from Cubism to Surrealism.
In 1974 he received a scholarship from the Museum of Modern Art in Amsterdam, where he exhibited at the Galerie-T; in the same year then he participates in the exhibition "Come eravamo" at the Galleria Centro in Turin that, in this way, brings together 20 artists operating in the artistic atmosphere of Turin in the sixties, including Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz, Piero Gilardi, Ugo Nespolo, Aldo Mondino, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Giorgio Griffa.
The period between 1977 and 1980 is characterized by a series of solo and group shows organized in France (in Grenoble, Paris, Sceaux, Macon and Tours) including the important Mythologies Quotidiennes, at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, with Valerio Adami, Franco Angeli, Enrico Baj, Giosetta Fioroni, Lucio Del Pezzo, Aldo Mondino, Ugo Nespolo, Gio Pomodoro, Mario Schifano, Giangiacomo Spadari, Emilio Tadini and, also in Paris, a year later, " Image - Intervention "at the Institut Culturel Italien, with Leonardo Cremonini, Titina Maselli.
In 1981 he is present together with Alviani, Bonalumi, Scheggi, Castellani, Uncini, Accardi, Capogrossi, Adami, Baj, Del Pezzo, Angeli and others in the exhibition "30 Anni di Arte Italiana 1950-1980" at Villa Manzoni, Lecco.
Sarri’s works, in the nineties, are characterized by the theme of "Panorama", with exhibitions at Gastaldelli Gallery in Milan, the Museum of Modern Art of Mantova Gazoldo degli Ippoliti, the Galleria Ca 'd'Oro in Rome at the Galleria Mazzoleni (Nuova Gissi) in Turin and at Galleria San Michele di Brescia. From 1994 to 1997 he was also Professor of Artistic Anatomy at the Academy of Brera in Milan. He exhibited for the first time in New York at the Montserrat Gallery in 1996 and, later, in 1998.
Il grande prestigiatore encapsulates the main themes of Sarri’s practice by depicting the relationship between man and the machine. The car and the robotic figure became characteristic of Sarri's work after he travelled to the United States before creating the present work. The mechanistic imagery suggests the influence of Pop Art and mass culture with the subject matter taken from the everyday and ordinary life but emphasizing bright and exuberant colours. The black bold outlines of the composition recall comic books, as well as the works of Roy Lichtenstein.
The artwork described above is subject to changes in availability and price without prior notice.
Where applicable ARR will be added.
