This second part of the theme cataloguing of the work of Boetti, an artist who, to begin with, associated himself with the Arte Povera movement, looks at the crucial period when his work took the form of conceptual poetry. (1972-1979).
The second volume of this series cataloguing the work of Alighiero Boetti, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Works 1972-1979. An artist who loved experimenting with new materials, from 1971, Alighiero Boetti commissioned some Afghan embroiderers to work on his most famous series, entitled Mappe (Maps). This and other works executed in the ‘seventies highlight some of the fundamental concepts underlying his work: multiplicity, diversity and repetition. It was between 1972, the year in which he decided to insert an ‘E’ between his name and surname to draw attention to the dual nature of his identity, and 1979, that Boetti created his most important works. This is the period covered by the second part of the general and theme catalogs published by Electa. The cataloging project, which is to be published in 4 volumes, is directed by Jean-Christophe Ammann with the collaboration of the Alighiero Boetti Archive. The artist was globally consecrated in 2012, thanks to the important retrospective exhibition on his work: Game Plan, a travelling exhibition which began at the Reina Sofia gallery in Madrid, was transferred to the Tate in London and, finally, to the MoMA in New York. Boetti was also one of the artists exhibiting at Documenta 13, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev.