Piero Manzoni

Infobox Artist
name = Piero Manzoni

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imagesize = 200px
caption = Piero Manzoni, 1960
birthname = Meroni Manzoni di Chiosca e Poggiolo
birthdate = birth date|1933|7|13|mf=y
location = Soncino Cremona
deathdate = death date and age|1963|2|6|1933|7|13|mf=y
deathplace = Milan
nationality = Italian
field = Artist
training =
movement = Conceptual art
works =
patrons =
awards =

Piero Manzoni (july 13 1933 - February 6, 1963) was an Italian artist best known for his ironic conceptual art in direct response to the work of Yves Klein.

Biography

Manzoni was born in Soncino, province of Cremona. His full name was Count Meroni Manzoni di Chiosca e Poggiolo. [Piero Manzoni, Catalog Raisoné, Battino & Palazzoli, p162]

Self taught as an artist, Manzoni first exhibited at the Castello Sforzesco, Soncino, August 1956, aged 23. His early work was broadly gestural, and showed the influence of milanese proponents of Nuclear Art, such as Enrico Baj. [Manzoni, Celant, Electa, p22]

"Achromes"

His work changed irrevocably after visiting Yves Klein's exhibition 'Epoca Blu' at the Galleria Apollinaire, January 1957. [Yves Klein, Sidra Stich, Hayward Gallery, p82] This exhibition consisted of 11 identical blue monochromes. By the end of the year he had ceased producing work influenced by the prevailing trends in Art Informel, to works that responded directly to Klein's monochromes. [Piero Manzoni, Catalog Generale, First Vol, Celant] Called "Achromes", they invariably looked white but were actually colourless. In these paintings Manzoni experimented with various pigments and materials. Initially he favoured canvas coated in gesso (1957 - 1958). He also worked with kaolin another material of white clay often used in the production of porcelain. [ Piero Manzoni, Germano Celant, p 262 ] The kaolin works are generally canvas covered in this clay, and folded horizontally, or even cut out squares of canvas coated in the clay, and adhered onto the canvas. As well as Klein, these works showed the influence of Fontana and Burri and the American artist Rauschenberg, who had painted neutral white canvases in 1951. [Rauschenberg/ Art and Life, Kotz, Abrams p76] Later he would create Achromes from white cotton wool, fiberglass, rabbit skin and bread rolls. He also experimented with phosphorescent paint and cobalt chloride so that the colours would change over time.

Gallery Azimuth

He founded the Gallery Azimuth, Milan, in 1959 with the artist Enrico Castellani, and preceded to put on a series of revolutionary exhibitions of multiples. The first, "12 Linee" ("12 Lines") took place in December 1959, quickly followed by "Corpi d'Aria" ("Bodies of Air") in May 1960. [Manzoni, Celant, Electa 2007, p207] This was an edition of 45 balloons on tripods that could be blown up by the buyer, or the artist himself, depending on the price paid. In July 1960 he exhibited "Consumption of Art by the Art-Devouring Public", in which he hard-boiled eggs, printed his thumprint onto them, and then handed them out to the audience to eat. This was the last exhibition by Manzoni at Azimuth, after which the gallery was forced to close when the lease ran out.

"Artist's Breath"

Contemporaneously with the Bodies of Air, Manzoni produced the "Artist's Breaths" ("Fiato d'Artista"), a series of red, white or blue balloons, inflated and attached to a wooden base inscribed "Piero Manzoni- Artist's Breath". The works continued Manzoni's obsession with the limits of physicality, whilst parodying the Art World's obsession with permanence, and also provided a poignant Memento Mori.

"Artist's Shit"

In May 1961 Manzoni created 90 small cans, sealed with the text "Artist's Shit" ("Merda d'Artista"). Each 30-gram can was priced by weight based on the current value of gold (around $1.12 a gram in 1960). [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/193259521X Poop Culture: How America is Shaped by its Grossest National Product] by Dave Praeger ISBN 1-932-59521-X] The contents of the cans remain a much-disputed enigma, since opening them would destroy the value of the artwork. Various theories have been proposed, including plaster [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart/story/0,,2101617,00.html Merde d'artiste: not exactly what it says on the tin | Art & Architecture | guardian.co.uk Arts ] ] In the following years, the cans have spread to various art collections all over the world and netted large prices, far outstripping inflation. The most recent can to be auctioned, #19, sold on 26th February 2007 in the USA for $80,000. [ [http://www.web.artprice.com] /]

"It is a joke, a parody of the art market, and a critique of consumerism and the waste it generates." Stephen Bury [Artist's Multiples 1935-2000, Stephen Bury, Ashgate]

Other works from this period include limited edition thumbprints, and the "Declarations Of Authenticity", 1961-61, a printed multiple that could be bought, proving the owner's status as either part or whole work of art, depending on the price paid. He also designated a number of people, including Umberto Eco, as authentic works of art gratis.Various other experimental pieces included trying to create a mechanical animal as a moving sculpture and using solar energy as a power source. In 1960 he created a sphere that was held aloft on a jet of air.

Piero Manzoni died of myocardial infarction in his studio in Milan in 1963.

Other works

*"Magic Bases" ("Magisk Sockkel", 1961), a series of wooden plinths that could be stood on to acquire status of 'Living Sculpture'.

*"Lines of Exceptional Length" (1960-61). Lines drawn on paper, the longest of which was 7.2 km, intended to be left in every major city in the world, which would equal the length of the equator when joined.

*"Base of the World" ("Socle du Monde", 1961). A large metal plinth, inscribed 'The Base Of The World, Homage To Galileo' placed upside down in a field in Herning, Denmark. It announces that the whole world is a work of art, rendering the artist obsolete.

*"Piero Manzoni; The Life And Works" (1963), published by Jes Petersen. An artist's book comprised of 100 sheets of transparent plastic bound to a white metal sheet. The only text is the title page. The rest of the book is totally blank.

ee also

*Conceptual Art
*Shock art

References

*cite book|first=R. |last=Schumacher|title=Italy in the Sixties - A Sketch|Publisher=Arte Povera from the Goetz Collection|year=1997|pages= pp.7-21
*cite book|first=P. |last=Manzoni|title=Piero Manzoni: Paintings, Reliefs, & Objects|location=London|Publisher=Tate Gallery|year=1974

External links

* [http://www.pieromanzoni.org/EN/index_en.htm Official website]
* [http://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue10/excrementalvalue.htm/ Jonn Miller on Piero Manzoni in TATE ETC. Issue 10, Summer 2007]
* [http://www.moma.org/collection/details.php?artist_id=3741 A biography at MOMA Online]