Castellani studied Painting and Sculpture at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, city where he also graduated in Architecture in 1956. After finishing his studies, he returned to his country where he founded, along with the artist Piero Manzoni, the gallery Azimut in 1959. This gallery was associated to a publication with the same name (but finished in h, Azimuth), and became a meeting point with the most recent art. Azimuth would explore the characteristics that distinguished the art of the new artists from the movements known as Tachisme and Art Informel. Thus, both the Gallery and the publication, became fundamental vertices that would explore, create and present the newest artistic movements that were gradually being generated.
His firsts works on paper, made between 1954 and 1958, followed the Informalist abstraction forms. From the second half of 1958, he started introducing threads in his works. This new material clearly shows Castellani’s interest in transforming the surface of the pieces by creating an incipient relief. This technique would be applied equally to his works on canvas and his pieces on paper.
In 1959 Castellani made, Superficie nera in rilievo. This works was essential in his artistic career, as it sets the scene for the rest of his works from that moment. Castellani started bending with nails the surface of his works creating a new appearance on the flat area of the pieces. Thus, works by Castellani transcend the limits of painting to integrate in it the concepts of sculpture and architecture in order to explore and present a new artistic paradigm. Committed with the redefinition of art, with the aim of gear it to the modern concerns, Castellani integrates light, space and movement in his pieces, using diverse objects and materials.
From 1959 he would apply this technique in the same way to the canvases and the works on paper, where the roughness of the material would intensify the chiaroscuro.
"Enrico Castellani", Cayón, 2013
"Enrico Castellani", Cayón, 2013
The exhibition, Enrico Castellani. Carte a rilievo will show a set of pieces on paper that explores the interest of the artist in the concepts of material, balance, light and monochrome and has been organized in collaboration with the Archivio Castellani (Milan) and diverse European collectors.
