Salvatore Scarpitta
b. 1919, New York, NY
d. 2007, New York, NY
Mirror Sled
1976–1981
Canvas, hockey sticks and mixed media
277 x 135 x 27 cm (109 1/8 x 53 1/8 x 10 5/8 in.)
Provenance
Collezione Mazzotta, Milano.
Literature
Birth Right: an exhibition of works by Sal Scarpitta, Tryon Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2000, cat. n° 3;
Salvatore Scarpitta. Outlaw Art at Racing Speeds, Cat. della mostra, Artcar Museum, Houston, Texas, Ed. Gabriele Mazzotta 2001, p. 202, n° 387;
Salvatore Scarpitta, cat. della mostra, Studio Gariboldi −nov.−dic. 2014, Studio Gariboldi, Milano 2014, p. 34.
Description
It is difficult to discuss Scarpitta’s art trying to label his production within an artistic movement. Leo Castelli, the famous New York gallerist with whom Scarpitta worked from 1958 -year in which they met in Italy- until 1999- year of Castelli’s death- said “ Salvatore does not reach the waves he swims on his own”. Even years later the art of Salvatore Scarpitta preserves its virginity, the works wrapped in bandages, resemble armouries that prevent any kinds of critical interpretations or intuitions.
Bandaged like a baby’s swaddling or a body scar mended, the works of Scarpitta – American artist who went to Rome in 1936 where he remained until the end of the war- are strongly related to Italy and the Italian history of the Twentieth Century including the tragedy of the world wars and their aftermath . His work is not rooted in the Italian Modern culture, nor in the Renaissance or Baroque eras, it is based on the contemporary moment he lived in.
The common desire of artists like Burri, Fontana, Manzoni and Scarpitta was the will to reproduce an art that was contemporary and historical at the same time, underlying the importance of man . The scars of Burri’s work, the cuts made by Fontana, Manzoni's use of his own body and the bandages of Scarpitta’s work underline the importance of man and the collective human history as focal connotations.
Bandaged like a baby’s swaddling or a body scar mended, the works of Scarpitta – American artist who went to Rome in 1936 where he remained until the end of the war- are strongly related to Italy and the Italian history of the Twentieth Century including the tragedy of the world wars and their aftermath . His work is not rooted in the Italian Modern culture, nor in the Renaissance or Baroque eras, it is based on the contemporary moment he lived in.
The common desire of artists like Burri, Fontana, Manzoni and Scarpitta was the will to reproduce an art that was contemporary and historical at the same time, underlying the importance of man . The scars of Burri’s work, the cuts made by Fontana, Manzoni's use of his own body and the bandages of Scarpitta’s work underline the importance of man and the collective human history as focal connotations.