Claudio Parmiggiani: Silences

Born in Luzzara, Italy, in 1943, Italian artist Claudio Parmiggiani is best known for his connections to the Arte Povera movement and conceptual art. His art evokes universal themes of time, absence, memory, and silence, while drawing on classical references as well as the subtle quietude of paintings by Giorgio Morandi. Parmiggiani’s signature process of “Delocazione” (displacement) was originally inspired by the silhouettes of dust left behind after objects were removed. For more than forty years, Parmiggiani has created his own version of this effect by filling rooms with smoke from burning tires and capturing the outlines of objects with soot and smoke. Mirroring the technical process of photograms, these haunting images record the paradoxical presence of objects now absent. This will be the artist’s first museum exhibition in the United States.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website