"Boetti at the Magasin"
Flash Art International, Italie, janvier-février 1994
Through March 27 the Centre National d'Art Contemporain de Grenoble (Magasin) is presenting a one-person exhibition of recent "mail art" and kilim rugs by Turin-born, Arte Povcra-alumnae Alighiero Boetti. Of his generation Boetti is certainly among the most uncompromisingly eclectic artists, and his production ranges in media from his well-known tapestries to mail art, monotypes, collages, watercolors, and more. "En alternant de 1 à 100" (Alternating from 1 to 100) on view here saw the collaboration of 30 art schools in France and 20 art professionals who were asked to design a kilim rug following a precise mathematical module devised by Boetti of gridded squares. The result is a surprisingly heterogeneous, beautiful illustration of variations on a theme which gathers both the artist's playfulness and precision. As a foil to this series is "De bouche à l'oreille" (From the mouth to the ear), an updated turn on mail art also built upon a mathematical formula: one stamp on one envelope, followed by four stamps on four envelopes (total 16 stamps), followed by nine stamps on nine envelopes, eventually exploding into a exponentially growing "drawing" which spreads along an entire wall of the Magasin. Both these works exemplify Boetti's sense of simplicity, of works built up methodically and patiently over time and which incorporate the anonymous contributions of "participants" drawn from beyond the art world - in this case, postal workers whose curiously arranged postal marks embellish and enrich "De bouche à oreille" and provide a kind of sub-plot. Catalogue available.