‘Theatre’ & ‘Without a Doubt’ @ Hauser & Wirth
A selection of Italian sculptor, painter, and poet Fausto Melotti’s work is currently on view at Hauser and Wirth’s London location. Curated by Sam Demicran, Theatre explores elements of the theatrical within the artist’s masterful practice, with the assemblage highlighting his artistic versatility and meticulous craftsmanship.
In the gallery’s adjacent space on Savile Row, American abstract expressionist painter and pioneer of the New York School Ed Clark’s Without a Doubt plays with form and technical freedom. This is his first solo exhibition held in the UK following his inclusion in Tate Modern’s seminal exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Bower 1963-1983 in 2017.
While varied in their practices, both artists succeeded in pushing the boundaries of medium and movement to metabolise their own political and social realities.
Installation view of Fausto Melotti’s Theatre at Hauser & Wirth London, 2022. © Fondazione Fausto Melotti, Milano. Photo by Alex Delfanne. Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.
At first glance, Fausto Melotti could be written off as a surrealist, however, his imagery is more complex than attribution to just one artistic movement allows. His artistic language was intriguing yet also universal and highly informed by theatre. After living through World War II, Melotti addressed the devastation of the war in his work by returning to the Renaissance principles of harmony, order, and geometry. His practice blended these principles together with symbolism. In his works on paper (preparatory drawings for his teatrini–meaning little theatres) which are included in the exhibition, Melotti employs the surrealist symbol of the egg. However, the inclusion of surrealist imagery in his scenes is supported by his extensive knowledge of stage design and is thus interpreted through the lens of the artist’s own unique language.
Installation view of Ed Clark’s Without a Doubt at Hauser & Wirth London, 2022. © Estate of Ed Clark. Photo by Alex Delfanne. Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.
Melotti developed his teatrini with autonomous works within his oeuvre that further emphasized his fluidity between different artistic movements and practices. Again, he complements symbolism with a unique type of narration informed by his time spent designing sets and costumes on multiple productions throughout the mid to late 20th century. The works have material qualities that echo a stage, but also expand upon themes that his contemporaries were also exploring at the time. These narrative scenes with figures sometimes refer directly to theatrical protagonists and create a story that unfolds in the exhibition as a backdrop to his other sculptural practices.
Installation view of Fausto Melotti’s Theatre at Hauser & Wirth, London. Photo by Carlisle Berkley.
Melotti’s sculptural practice can be described as dynamic and alluring; sometimes haunting and sometimes whimsical. Some of the more constructive aspects of his sculpture leave the viewer contemplating where they may fit within art history. Fanciful abstractions recall the figures of a Miró painting. With the teatrini set acting as a background for Melotti’s practice, a sense of dramaturgy, narration, and allegory is highlighted. The universal element of his sculptures is once again communicated through a kind of theatrical display that supplements the symbolic language that he employs.
Installation view of Fausto Melotti’s Theatre at Hauser & Wirth, London. Photo by Carlisle Berkley.
Shifting the focus to the display of Ed Clark’s Without a Doubt in the gallery’s adjacent space, viewers are confronted by the artist’s preoccupation with expanding the pictorial frame. Clark developed his push broom technique in order to experiment with extending the brushstroke while also expanding the colour and intensity of marks following a single path. Abstract artists of Clark’s generation were compelled to experiment in order to test the capacity of abstraction to convey an experience. Using oval canvases, Clark became one of the first artists to use shaped canvases in order to expand an image. The oval shape he employed is intended to mimic the shape of the human eye and represented the beginning of the artist’s long fascination with this form.
Installation view of Ed Clark’s Without a Doubt at Hauser & Wirth, London. Photo by Carlisle Berkley.
In Blue Umber (1975) he defines an oval within a rectangular form, referring to this composition as an integrated oval. This format marked a new beginning of his quest for greater freedom in his practice. His resulting experimentation culminated in his paintings using curved brushstrokes that were created using his initial push brush technique. Created in Paris, these works expanded his ability to mix and blend colours in a way that appeared more volumetric and imposing to the viewer.
Installation view, ‘Ed Clark: Without a Doubt’ at Hauser & Wirth, London. Photo by Carlisle Berkley.
Further, Clark’s push brush technique displaced the artist’s touch and created compositions in which conception and colour became the central elements of his canvases. His investigation of the stroke looked at a brushstroke as a discipline in itself and created variety in his oeuvre. His experimentation with the physical act of painting pushed the boundaries of his abstractions away from the personal and towards a more universal experience of method and material as a means of discovery and change.
Installation view of Ed Clark’s Without a Doubt at Hauser & Wirth, London. Photo by Carlisle Berkley.
From Clark’s conceptual practice of displacing his own touch to open up abstraction’s ability to communicate the human experience in a more universal matter, to Fausto Melotti’s blending of symbolism and the theatrical to create a unique body of work that dances between movements—overall, these exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth constitute two highly engaging displays of pioneering artists and their unique explorations of medium and movement across seven decades.
Theatre and Without a Doubt are on view until 20 April 2022 at Hauser & Wirth in London.
For more information on Melotti’s Theatre, click here. For more information on Clark’s Without a Doubt, click here.
Carlisle Berkley
Contributing Writer, MADE IN BED