Pier Paolo Calzolari, Untitled, 1986

1986

Medium

Burnt salt, refrigeration unit, refrigerator motor, lead

Dimensions

8 × 82 cm

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-1156783

Spending a portion of his youth in Venice, Italy, Pier Paolo Calzolari (b. 1943, Bologna, Italy) was inspired by the unique play of light upon the city’s time-worn marble to pursue the perfect white. Uniting this with his alchemical fascination with the elements, the artist began to work with both frost and salt as part of this effort. In "Untitled," Calzolari unites these materials in a poetic composition that extends his investigation of pure, elemental color as he burns the salt to create an abyssal black. Dividing the black panels of burnt salt is a thin line of frost, which highlights Calzolari’s pursuance for the perfect white. The frost forms on a thin strip of lead and is maintained by a refrigeration unit. The stark visual juxtaposition of black and white is paired with an elemental polarity as well as he brings fire, in the form of the burnt salt, and ice together.