Enrico Castellani: 20th Century Forward Thinker

 

Enrico Castellani was born in Veneto Italy during the 1930s. Interested in painting and sculpture, Castellani would go on to study at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in 1952. Soon after, Castellani would study in Belgium, perfecting his craft towards becoming one of Italy’s most influential artists of the 20th century. 

Digging deeper into the cataloged archives of Castellani’s work, a transformative process can be noticed through decades of painting. Starting with oil on canvas paintings, Castellani would use influences from Lucio Fontana to explore new mediums. Castellani would go on to use shaped acrylic canvas in an effort to combine sculpture with painting. The paintings now seemed as if they were jumping out at the viewer, layered with pattern designs stretching across the canvas. This forward thinking style would provide a new perspective on visual artistry. In 1967, Castellani would further push the boundaries of visual art by creating environments for viewers to be immersed in. These environments consisted of interlocking canvases that would encapsulate the viewers and allow their focus to be drawn to any corner of the room. For his groundbreaking work, Castellani would be awarded with the Praemium Imperiale in 2010 by the Japan Art Association

The Fondazione Enrico Castellani Archive was recently established to catalog and contribute to the future exhibitions of Castellani’s work. The Cairo Editore highlights the archive in their arte section as a place where owners of Castellani pieces can now get their artwork authenticated and registered. The article on the Fondazione and Archivio is linked below. Although Enrico Castellani passed away in 2017 at the age of 87, his work lives on through the Castellani Fonzadione and the generations of artists that he inspired. 

https://www.cairoeditore.it/arte

– Frank Pastula