Alberto Burri (1915-1995) was an Italian painter and sculptor. For his works, he used unusual materials such as tar, resin, and plastic cements in the attempt to expand the potential of painting. The gallery Luxembourg & Dayan in New York City is currently presenting a solo show with rare late works of Alberto Burri, titled Black Cellotex. The exhibition comprises a series of paintings made in the years between 1986 and 1987 , works that have never before been exhibited in the United States. For the works on display, Burri used Cellotex, a material the artist began using in the early 1950s as base for his paintings. Cellotex is an industrial particleboard made of compressed sawdust and glue. In 1975, Burri started to use the material not just as an invisible supporting ground for his paintings, but as his subject, exposing the material. Alberto Burri used knives and various hand-made instruments to sculpt the surface of Cellotex board, thus creating textured black-on-black forms. This video provides you with a walkthrough of the exhibition on the occasion of the press preview. Alberto Burri: Black Cellotex at Luxembourg & Dayan runs until April 20, 1013.
Alberto Burri: Black Cellotex. Luxembourg & Dayan, New York City. Press preview, March 7, 2013.
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