It is dedicated to Enrico Baj (Milano 1924-2003) the fourth round of the series "The inhabitants of the museum, on display at the Marconi Foundation until 23/12 LONDON - After Valerio Adami, Emilio Tadini and Mimmo Rotella, the father of the Nuclear Movement and the International Bauhaus an image has is present on two floors of the gallery and adjacent spaces of Studio Marconi with a wide selection of books, drawings and serigraphs 60s and 70s. By Meccano and Lego creations made in '63 for the exhibition "Vision and Color" at Palazzo Grassi, Venice, exposed to plastics in 1967 to award the fifteenth Liss, up to the collages and grotesque characters Albmilalf (1968), Izzoighitalti (1968 ) Emsterkem (1969), the exhibition traces a milestone in the career of Baj, he sees unfolding, then the doors of Studio Marconi, as well as the Royal Palace, the Museum Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels .
Favorite material of these works is essentially plastic. From tireless experimenter who was, "the lord of matter," as defined by Tristan Sauvage, here explores the infinite combinations, the chlorides of potassium, cellulose acetate, polyethylene and PVC leaves stuffed with resin expanded, perhaps in addition to the usual materials, such as valves, spark plugs, knobs, handles, inlays, frogs, waste, lace, flowers, scarves, medals, beads, zuffoli, ties, braids, ribbons, ribbons, beads, beaufix, adhesives vinyl, etc ... Not for a pure and selfless love towards the subject-at times still present - but ironically the reverse of the new craze that is characteristic of the consumer society, using the object-fetish that more than anyone else entered in the customs and collective imagination: the plastic.
And the criticism of society seems to be the guiding principle of these works. Thus, the recurring theme of the bloated medals alludes to humanity and boastful, while grotesque characters unpronounceable names and onomatopoeic want to pillory the stereotypical behavior and myths peddled by the media. Punching the exemplary case of General (1969) a multi-sized man, "mounted on a spring like a punching bag," Baj recommended by police forces "that the protesters, the students of '68, wanting to unload their hatred for constituted authority, were placed in the ability to punch finally a general. "
Arbitrarily magnified in the middle of the large format canvases, with its bright colors and details to the nth excited, the tie is the other dominant theme of the exhibition. The reason is always the same: a tie is a symbol of modernity, it means the star of a framework to criticize implicitly the corollary of values that lie behind it. "The whole world is bent to the law of the tie. For some it is a noose, dangling for another foul, for others the continuation of the umbilical cord. " "The tie is the favorite decoration by modern man, because it replaces all military and civilian medals and decorations. The tie is the best symbol of contemporary Western society. "
In both cases, despite the seriousness of the issues and the strength of social protest, is never less than the playful spirit of the artist as a child, likes to invent new forms, according to its own laws that upended the shared code. This concept, which has raised Baj anarchic system of thought to joining in 1963, the Collège de France de Pataphysique as Regent and transcendent satrap. In the belief that only the irony and irreverence can defend the man from "the oppression and the massification of the bureaucracy, tax codes, postal, telephone, ATM, internett, etc. ..."
For info:
Marconi Foundation Modern and Contemporary Art
ViaTadino 15 - 20124 Milan
Tel 02.29419232
www.fondazionemarconi.org
