FALL 2018
Giulio Turcato and Spring
Urpflanze
Giulio Turcato, Metamorfosi. Litograph, 62 x 75 cm, 1972.
Spring, Urpflanze. Mixed media, size variable, 2018.
Spring, Urpflanze. Mixed media, size variable, 2018.
This exhibition was born as a simultaneous reading of Giulio Turcato’s print, Metamorfosi (1972), and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s text “Metamorphosis of Plants” (1790).
In this treaty, Goethe examines a series of traits common to various plants’ characters, in an attempt to find unity in formal dynamism: ordo ab chao. He concludes with a hypothesis about the existence of a prehistorical, archetypal plant — the Urpflanze —from which all plants would derive.
Spring has materialized Goethe’s originary Urpflanze (2018), an imaginary fossil of the archetypal plant. The poet died in 1832 without proof to validate his theory. This artwork is a gift to Goethe and an homage to his visionary idea of genesis and genetics, a forerunner of Darwin’s theory of evolution. The fossil takes its cue from one of the greatest botanical illustrators, Pierre-Jean-François Turpin, who, like Spring, was deeply impressed by Goethe's precocious speculations.
In Turcato’s print, recurrent themes from Goethe’s “Theory of Colors” (1810) are also evident; indeed, Goethe theorized that all colors originate from a metamorphosis of blue, red, and yellow: the three archetypal colors. In Turcato’s piece, this metamorphosis is enacted through the painter’s characteristic marks, revealing an organic quality of tone.
Both works suggest an alternative understanding of metamorphosis: Turcato’s print reads as a consequence, or conclusion, of the transformational process; Spring’s fossil harkens back to a common, lost origin.
Turcato’s Metamorfosi and Spring’s Urpflanze merge modern art and botanical philosophy in a demonstration of the ever-changing force of artistic inquiry. Both artists offer a personal interpretation of the concept of metamorphosis by making visible its fundamental duality: how it evolves, how it ceases to be. Physical proximity is the a priori requirement for the works to communicate with each other and with their viewers. Their vicinity enables the works to converse, and invites the viewer to become an active participant in that conversation. When the three are brought together, the concept of the exhibition comes to life, generating an unexpected synthesis.
The works are presented in a space shared by a research community that will glean answers, or perhaps more-so, questions, from this artistic metamorphosis. Like Goethe’s archetypal plant, the library is the primordial place for intellects to evolve and flourish.
In this treaty, Goethe examines a series of traits common to various plants’ characters, in an attempt to find unity in formal dynamism: ordo ab chao. He concludes with a hypothesis about the existence of a prehistorical, archetypal plant — the Urpflanze —from which all plants would derive.
Spring has materialized Goethe’s originary Urpflanze (2018), an imaginary fossil of the archetypal plant. The poet died in 1832 without proof to validate his theory. This artwork is a gift to Goethe and an homage to his visionary idea of genesis and genetics, a forerunner of Darwin’s theory of evolution. The fossil takes its cue from one of the greatest botanical illustrators, Pierre-Jean-François Turpin, who, like Spring, was deeply impressed by Goethe's precocious speculations.
In Turcato’s print, recurrent themes from Goethe’s “Theory of Colors” (1810) are also evident; indeed, Goethe theorized that all colors originate from a metamorphosis of blue, red, and yellow: the three archetypal colors. In Turcato’s piece, this metamorphosis is enacted through the painter’s characteristic marks, revealing an organic quality of tone.
Both works suggest an alternative understanding of metamorphosis: Turcato’s print reads as a consequence, or conclusion, of the transformational process; Spring’s fossil harkens back to a common, lost origin.
Turcato’s Metamorfosi and Spring’s Urpflanze merge modern art and botanical philosophy in a demonstration of the ever-changing force of artistic inquiry. Both artists offer a personal interpretation of the concept of metamorphosis by making visible its fundamental duality: how it evolves, how it ceases to be. Physical proximity is the a priori requirement for the works to communicate with each other and with their viewers. Their vicinity enables the works to converse, and invites the viewer to become an active participant in that conversation. When the three are brought together, the concept of the exhibition comes to life, generating an unexpected synthesis.
The works are presented in a space shared by a research community that will glean answers, or perhaps more-so, questions, from this artistic metamorphosis. Like Goethe’s archetypal plant, the library is the primordial place for intellects to evolve and flourish.
Giulio Turcato (b. 1912, Mantua; d. 1995, Rome) worked in a variety of media, both figuratively and abstractly. After attending the Venice Academy’s school of Life Drawing in the early 1930s, he joined the Communist party and moved to Rome to work underground for the Resistenza. His unique style and choice of media reveal his interest in the work of diverse European masters and, above all, his creativity and his attention to looking. From 1942 onwards, he exhibited at the Venice Biennale and, in 1959, at Documenta II. Turcato was active in several artistic groups, among which: Forma 1 in 1947, alongside Ugo Attardi, Pietro Consagra, Piero Dorazio, Mino Guerrini, Achille Perilli, Antonio Sanfilippo; Fronte Nuovo delle Arti, in 1948; and Continuità in 1961.
Spring is an artists’ collective founded in Rome in 2017. It bases its research on the study and interaction of the work of art with the plant kingdom. Spring’s past shows include, most notably: HO HO HO, a group exhibition held at Frutta Gallery (25 November 2017 - 24 February 2018).
