Carlo Guaita was born in Palermo in 1954. He exhibited his oeuvre both in Italy and abroad. Among the events in which he has recently participated, may we recall: solo shows at the Gérard Faggionato Gallery in London (1998), at the Kunstverein in Bludenz (2000), and at the Galerie Bernard Bouche in Paris (2001). In 1988, he participated in the Venice Art Biennale (Aperto 88) and, in 1998, in the Due o tre cose che so di loro group exhibition held at the PAC, Milan.

– title: Senza titolo (collassi)

– date: 2011

– medium: paint on canvas

– description:  Carlo Guaita’s exploration is inspired by the concept of art being distilled down into its purest and simplest form in the wake of Modernism, as outlined in the set of rules laid down by Clement Greenberg in the 1950s. The artist’s ultimate goal is to overcome the stalemate of the canvas, by acting in a disruptive way compared to the Italian art scenario resulting from the Transavantgarde movement. The work Senza titolo (collassi) was donated by the artist to the museum in 2014. It consists of a monochromatic painting whose consistency brings it close to a sculpture, which was actually the starting point of Guaita’s early artistic investigation. In the spotlight are the very components of a painting: canvas and colour. This work belongs to the Collassi  series and is made up of canvases that have been cut and then overlapped, using paint as a glue: colour is therefore used an instrument that takes shape in a paratactic continuum. The painted background is replicated and overlapped up to take on material presence and consistency, almost becoming a sculpture. The starting point is the idea of a monochromatic painting that ‘collapses’, that bursts inward as if it were a black hole, a sort of energy contraction rather than an expansion; a sensation that is enhanced by a deep blue colour.