LONDON.- Ronchini Gallery and the Franco Angeli Archive present the first UK solo exhibition of works by the world-renowned Italian artist Franco Angeli, bringing together some of his most important pieces from the 1960’s for this first time. For the occasion, the Franco Angeli Archive will present the first monograph by Luca Massimo Barbero, with a text by Laura Cherubini. The book will feature more than one hundred artworks and unpublished photographs, documenting his astounding career thirty years after his death.

Angeli’s self-taught practice began at the end of the 1950’s with his first paintings taking the same approach as Alberto Burri. He notes: Matter for me is just a fragment of the enormous tear that overwhelmed Europe; my first paintings looked just like that, like a wound after you have removed the bandage…after the blood has dried and there is no longer a vivid red mark. (G. De Marco, Piazza del Popolo: 1950-1960, form La Tartaruga – Quaderno d’arte e di letteratura, n. 5/6, March 1989, pp. 105).

One of the most significant Italian artists of his generation, he was a seminal figure in the art world in Rome, regularly exhibiting at La Tartaruga, L’Appunto and La Salita. Angeli’s work references socio-political issues with minimalist aesthetics that typify Italian artistic heritage. Yet his works shared a new vision, focusing on current events of social and political upheaval along with artists such as: Tano Festa, Mario Schifano, Pino Pascali, Jannis Kounellis, and Fabio Mauri. Angeli’s works were further inspired by the ‘eternal city’ of Rome and its unique urban landscape.

A contemporary of Tano Festa, Francesco Lo Savio, Mario Schifano and Pino Pascali, Angeli’s work is amongst the strongest of his generation, known for his bold, outspoken symbolism. Angeli began working in art in the 1950s as a reaction to the devastation of WWII and as a platform to expose his leftist/communistic views.

My first paintings are the proof of my everyday contact with the streets. I saw the ruins and the gravestones. I saw ancient and modern symbols such as the eagle and the swastika alongside the sickle and hammer; and then obelisks, statues and Roman she-wolves. All of these icons create such a dynamic and invigorating energy that help in my adventure with paint Franco Angeli (M. Calvesi, Un pensiero sul Destino, in Franco Angeli. Quadri da una Collezione, exhibition catalog, Galleria dé Serpenti, Roma, November 1991).

Angeli takes these iconic symbols and creates a new context, which then permeates into our unconscious. He does this by using unconventional materials such as: chalk, tulle, nylon socks, and industrial glaze, what is left are strong artworks that leave an imprint into the viewer such as E da una Ferita Scaturí Bellezza (1957); Povera Francia (1961); Bella Ciao; Omaggio a Dine (1963); United States of America (1965); Natale di Roma (1966); Abbraccio Eterno 1968-69). After eight years of investigative work, the archive have been incredibly valuable in increasing the prestige of Italian art from that time, which has already been highlighted in exhibitions such as The World Goes Pop, (Tate Modern, London (2015-16) and Imagine: New Imagery in Italian Art 1960-1969 (Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (2016).

With works dissecting the church, morality, politics and social insecurity, his iconography investigates the state of dissolution of the time in different social sectors, but also seem so relevant in confronting the political uncertainty of contemporary society today. Shrouded and faded, the symbols are each covered by a veil of paint or tulle.

A veil that paradoxically wakes from an alert consciousness into a certain sharp numbness. A veil that keeps you away, but lets you in simultaneously. In this movement dwells the originality and the reverence of an extraordinary painter. (M. Calvesi, Un pensiero sul Destino, in Franco Angeli. Quadri da una Collezione, exhibition catalog, Galleria dé Serpenti, Roma, November 1991).

Angeli’s first solo exhibition took place in 1960 at La Salita Gallery, Rome before going on to show in notable galleries such as Palazzo di Re Enzo, Bologna (1962); La Tartaruga Gallery, Rome, (1963); Galleria dell’Ariete, Milan (1964); Arco d’Alibert Gallery, Rome (1964); J Gallery, Paris (1965); Odissya Gallery, Rome (1965); Palazzo della Esposizionioni, Rome (1965,66,81); De’ Foscherari Gallery, Bologna (1967); Galleria Christian Stein, Turin (1969); La Nuova Pesa Gallery, Rome (1972); Castello di Genazzano, Rome (1972); Belvedere di San Leucio, Caserta (1984); Fontanella Borghese Gallery, Rome (1987); Rinaldo Rotta Gallery, Genoa (1988); Casa del Machiavelli, Florence (1988).

Angeli is in the collections of the Foundation for Modern Art and Contemporary in Turin, MART in Trento and Rovereto, MACRO (Contemporary Art Museum) in Rome, the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation in Milan, the Maramotti Collection in Reggio Emilia, the GNAM (National Gallery of Modern Art) in Rome and MAMbo (Museum of Modern Art) in Bologna.