Artist books, Exhibitions
Here are only “artist books” as works of art (handmade, in a few signed and numbered copies); instead for “standard books” click here
photos of the works of art and pages by Osvaldo Coluccino
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ARTIST BOOKS
some of the following books have been exhibited in important museums, such as:
GAM - Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Torino
MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna
Castello di Rivoli - Museum of Contemporary Art
Fondazione Plart - Museo Madre, Napoli
Pinacoteca Comunale di Città di Castello
Biblioteca d’Arte e Architettura Poletti, Modena
FestivalFilosofia di Modena
Bundesamt für Kultur BAK, Bern (Swiss National Library)
and in various art galleries
publication date descending
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| Giulia Napoleone - Osvaldo Coluccino |
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| Alfonso Filieri - Osvaldo Coluccino |
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| Loredana Müller - Osvaldo Coluccino |
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Giulia Napoleone - Osvaldo Coluccino |
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| Alfonso Filieri - Osvaldo Coluccino |
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| Giulia Napoleone - Osvaldo Coluccino |
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| Giulia Napoleone - Osvaldo Coluccino |
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| Bruno Ceccobelli - Osvaldo Coluccino |
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| Giulia Napoleone - Osvaldo Coluccino |
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| Tommaso Cascella - Osvaldo Coluccino |
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Franco Guerzoni - Osvaldo Coluccino
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Marco Gastini - Osvaldo Coluccino
* * * MA I TUOI OCCHI DI NOTTE • Osvaldo Coluccino - Margherita Cassani Art Sheet: a poem from the “poemetto” (short poem) Spiriti negli abeti in the book Cieli d’assenzio (1987-1989) by Osvaldo Coluccino, and one original work of art (woodcut) by Margherita Cassani (2025). The object: 50 copies, hand-printed on handmade Magnani laid paper, size work cm 47x33, slipcase cm 20x25. The texts are printed by Arti Grafiche della Torre di Casinina in Auditore (PU). Fogli Volanti Editions, Ca‘ Angelino, Urbino, December 2025. The artist: Margherita Cassani graduated from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, then specialized in Graphic Arts at the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg, in Woodcut and Intaglio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Urbino, and in Ceramics at the Escola de Ceràmica de La Bisbal, Spain. She has participated in several national and international exhibitions. With Danila Denti, she created the art edition “Fogli Volanti”, where, on a large sheet of paper, she combines a poem by a renowned poet with her own original engraving, created specifically based on the suggestions received from this poem. Among the poets in this collection are: Franco Loi, Mariangela Gualtieri, Pierluigi Cappello, Giovanni Tesio, Alessandro Fo, Roberto Luciano Tàpparo, and others. The printer: Danila Denti graduated from the Liceo Artistico in Busto Arsizio, a branch of the Brera Academy. She was teacher, painter, ceramist, and a representative of the MAC (Movimento Arte Concreta). In Milan, she studied engraving and printing and then worked at the Stamperia d‘Arte of Giancarlo Sardella, Urbino. Over the years, she has collaborated with Enzo Bellini, Robert Carroll, Luca Crippa, Franca Ghitti, Tonino Guerra, Gianfranco Ferroni, Angelo Savelli, Luciana Matalon, and Walter Valentini. For decades, he assisted with engraving for publishers Scheiwiller, Unaluna, Colophon, Cento Amici del Libro, Giovanni Tiboni. She has presented her engravings in various exhibitions. Critical note: The tenderness of this “sheet“ speaks for itself, where the frothy green and gray hues, evoking a fairy-tale undergrowth, as well as the transparent pink halo inserted for counterpoint, provide the backdrop to two explicit, delicate figures. And if Matisse's blue (and other colored) birds (recall those in the artist's book Jazz) or, for example, the multiple figures, including the childlike birds and leaves, depicted by Braque in the artist's book Lettera amorosa by the poet René Char, have a “sensible” purpose, even in this “sheet“ the figurative part of the work is “permissible“, it does not create complexes when compared to abstraction, marrying the mysterious and partially naturalistic sweetness of such poem. (o. c.)     * * * LA STELLA SMARRITA • Osvaldo Coluccino - Giulia Napoleone Artist book - Manuscript: 1 poem, La stella smarrita, from the collection Quelle volte spontanee (1993) by Osvaldo Coluccino, and 5 original works (pastels) with the poem handwritten by Giulia Napoleone (2025). The object: Artist‘s book in a unique copy, entirely handmade by the artist, handmade Hahnemühle paper 300 gr., size cm. 40x40. The exhibitions: Giulia Napoleone, Segni senza confine, Pinacoteca Comunale di Città di Castello, 12 June - 19 July 2025. In the splendid Renaissance residence of the Pinacoteca di Città di Castello, among masterpieces by Raffaello, Signorelli, Spinello Aretino, but also De Chirico, De Pisis… Municipality of Città di Castello, Department of Culture, Galleria Il Ponte di Firenze, curated by Lorenzo Fiorucci, with critical texts by Bruno Corà and Luigi Lambertini. The artist: About Giulia Napoleone read biographical note and critical note for the book Essenze, assenze. Critical note: What could be more poetic for an artist’s book when an artist, both in gesture and concept, incorporates the poet’s text into its graphic part – that is, when she writes the poem herself, turning it into art (and no longer just literature)? The enigmatic nature of the poem La stella smarrita (“The Lost Star”), contains some-thing deeply tender and melancholic, if it is true that our lucky star symbolizes the benign celestial light that guides our path. It is from the union of these five large metaphysical star maps by Napoleone, the graphically artistic text, and the intrinsic value (semantic and formal) of the poem that the work is generated in its precious completeness. (o. c.)         
* * * LA NOTTE DI TANTALO • Osvaldo Coluccino - Alfonso Filieri Artist book: 1 unpublished poem, La notte di Tantalo, from the unpublished collection Quale leggerezza (1990) by Osvaldo Coluccino, and 1 original work of art (1 for each of the two copies as unique pieces) by Alfonso Filieri (2024). The object: Unique pieces handmade by Alfonso Filieri. Thick handmade cotton cardboard and natural pigments, size cm. 33,5x20. Archivio Orolontano, Roma 2024. The artist: Read news below in Canto del risveglio. Critical note: A poem by a 27 year old boy, dark as the night, and painful, but with a precision as clear as the day, that launches its meaning (to be interpreted with as much elasticity of mind as one has) outside the constraints of myth and of “our” passing time; and an equally fascinating work of art, with the typical technique of Filieri that makes the expression very material and iridescent, “metallized” – in this case preserved in a gloomy, stony, case that is almost a breastplate, a rough and rude grey Tantalus-style armor – and at the same time refined and poetic. (o. c.)      * * * MAGICI SPECCHI • Osvaldo Coluccino - Loredana Müller Artist book: a poem from the collection Magici specchi in the book Prematuri umori (1990-1992) by Osvaldo Coluccino, and one original work of art (engraving, etching and soft wax-burin on zinc plate), always different copy by copy, by Loredana Müller (2024). The object: 21 copies, book printed and sewn by hand on handmade cardboard, texts set with lead movable type, format cm. 25x18 closed book, cm. 86x25 open book. Areapangeart Editions, series “Quaderni grigi”, Camorino, Bellinzona, December 2024. The exhibitions: 1) Areapangeart Gallery, Bellinzona, 2025. 2) Magici specchi is kept at Bundesamt für Kultur BAK (Swiss National Library in Bern. The artist: Loredana Müller studied at the CSIA in Lugano as a student of Massimo Cavalli and Max Huber; in 1984 at the Academy of Macerata with Remo Brindisi and Magdalo Mussio. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, in painting with Enzo Brunori and in engraving with Guido Strazza. She has had solo and group exhibitions in various European cities. Critical note: In this series of engravings in Magici Specchi, with their superfine technique, with their earthiness-rustiness and at the same time metaphysicality, Loredana Müller shows her ability by going to collect the magical baton (testimone) from this poem, “engraving a furrow” within whose banks the thirst for knowledge (which the poem deals with) goes in search. To finally quench one’s thirst, but also to mirror oneself… And where one can also see reflected, in filigree, non-ordinary presences, not identifiable for everyone. (o. c.)         Loredana Müller at work on Magici specchi * * * AI PIEDI DEGLI ALBERI • Osvaldo Coluccino - Giulia Napoleone Artist book: 4 unpublished poems (Monticelli d’emigrati sguardi, Armonia di spersi astri, La terra una selce impavida fendeva, Variegata canta una fronda) from the unpublished collection Cieli d’assenzio (1987-1989) by Osvaldo Coluccino, and 6 original works (4 engravings mezzotint, 1 punch, 1 pastel), that is 5 engravings and 35 pastels as unique pieces, one for each book, by Giulia Napoleone (2022). The object: 35 copies, signed by the poet and the artist, handmade at the “torchio” (ancient press), with lead movable type and handmade Hahnemühle paper 300 gr., size cm. 39x28, by Sergio Pandolfini. Il Bulino Art Printing House, Rome, 2023. The exhibitions: 1) Osvaldo Coluccino, “Incontri d’Arte”, Areapangeart, Bellinzona, curated by Loredana Müller and Gilberto Isella, 12.6.2023. 2) Il corpo della parola, I libri d’artista di Giulia Napoleone, Poletti Library of Art and Architecture, with the department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies of the University of Bologna – FestivalFilosofia of Modena, 15.9.2023-4.2.2024, curated by Paolo Tinti. 3) Almost Blue, Moregola Gallery of Busto Arsizio – Festival FilosoFarti, curated by Lorenzo Fiorucci, 18.2-7.4.2024. 4) Verso cielo, ETWorks Studio, Roma, 2.10-11.12.2024. 5) Giulia Napoleone – Segni senza confine, curated by Lorenzo Fiorucci, texts by Bruno Corà and Luigi Lambertini, Municipality of Città di Castello, Department of Culture, Pinacoteca Comunale di Città di Castello, 12.6.2025-19.7.2025. 5) Fogli nel tempo, Il Brunitoio, Ghiffa, Lago Maggiore, 2.9.2025-12.10.2025, curated by Ubaldo Rodari and Giulia Grassi. The artist and the printer: About Giulia Napoleone read biographical note and critical note for the book Essenze, assenze. Sergio Pandolfini is considered one of the leading Italian art printers, specializing in entirely handmade artists’ books, and his Il Bulino brand is renowned. Critical note: Napoleone’s work stands out for its rigor, essentiality, silence, and purity, and is recognized for her obsessive attention to detail. As a specialist in the art of engraving (mezzotint, punch, etc.), she expressly creates here, in dialogue with the very delicate poems in this book, a poetic transposition of a sensitive undergrowth. (o.c.)           * * * CANTO DEL RISVEGLIO • Osvaldo Coluccino - Alfonso Filieri Artist book: 2 unpublished poems (Al cielo s’approssima, Richiamano in tinnanti dardi), from the unpublished collection Cieli d’assenzio (1987-1989) by Osvaldo Coluccino, and 3 original works of art (mixed technique) by Alfonso Filieri (2022). The object: unique pieces handmade by Alfonso Filieri. The first pair of book-works (“the whites”) each contains a different work of art made with natural fibres, pigments and waxes, and the texts are printed on Canson paper; The second work-book (“the green”) is handmade paper, pigments and waxes, size cm. 29,5x21. Archivio Orolontano, Roma 2022. The artist: We remember Alfonso Filieri’s 1977 exhibition at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, Milan instead of Milan with Marcello Avenali, Agostino Bonalumi, Enrico Castellani, Alik Cavaliere and Arnaldo Pomodoro. For decades he has dedicated himself to the creation of book-works, preserved in museums such as MoMa, Centre Pompidou, GNAM in Rome, Historical Archives of the Venice Biennale… Among the authors of his editions we remember the poets Andrea Zanzotto, Emilio Villa, Edoardo Sanguineti, Sandro Penna; among the artists Toti Scialoja, among the critics Enrico Crispolti, Achille Bonito Oliva, Filiberto Menna… Critical note: Filieri’s art has an almost secret technique, despite the declared pigments, waxes, glues, solvents… (“They are aristocratic […] perfumed books” wrote Achille Bonito Oliva for example), as much as the aesthetic-material results are ineffable. Thus, in the refined works in Canto del risveglio we detect fleeting tactile qualities, cottony filaments, fragile ripples, brilliance-metallicity and volatility of silk… All this participates in a delicate dynamism in a constant mutability. An art close to traditional oriental philosophies. These two poems, one for each book as unique pieces, sound and sing in concreteness. That is, when poetry is authentic, it doesn’t speak to us about something (it doesn’t describe), it doesn’t tell us about a song heard, or it doesn’t relate an event, but it is capable of actually putting song into the air; more generally, it becomes life itself. (o. c.)         
* * * UNA ECO • Osvaldo Coluccino - Giulia Napoleone Artist book: 2 unpublished poems (Tende archi bellezza e si ritrae, Ogni percorso propiziai all’indietro) from the unpublished collection Cieli d'assenzio (1987-1989) by Osvaldo Coluccino, and 1 original work of art (engraving, punch on copper plate) by Giulia Napoleone (2022). The object: 40 copies of the book signed by the poet and the artist, the graphic work is pressed at the “torchio” (artistic press) by Sergio Pandolfini at Stamperia d’Arte Il Bulino in Rome, and for the text it is printed by hand with lead movable type on handmade paper Hahnemühle 300 gr. by Luciano Ragozzino in his laboratori in Milan, size cm. 27,3x20,3. Il Ragazzo innocuo, Milano 2022. The exhibitions: 01) Pietra Carta, Areapangeart Gallery, Bellinzona, 17.3-30.6.2023; 2) Osvaldo Coluccino, “Incontri d’Arte”, Areapangeart, Bellinzona, 12.6.2023. The artist and the printer: About Giulia Napoleone read biographical note and critical note for the book Essenze, assenze. Il Ragazzo innocuo is an artist book publisher, by Luciano Ragozzino, artist and engraver. Located in the heart of Milan, Il Ragazzo innocuo (“the harmless boy”) over the years has hosted original graphic works printed with techniques such as etching, drypoint, graver etc. by renowned artists such as Emilio Isgrò, Giulia Napoleone, Kenjiro Azuma, Mario Benedetti, Alberto Rebori… and poems by poets such as Luciano Erba, Giorgio Orelli, Philippe Jacottet, Arturo Schwarz, Alda Merini, Valerio Magrelli, Franco Loi, Giampiero Neri, Maurizio Cucchi, Franco Buffoni… Critical note: When we encounter a masterfully crafted engraving, we can understand the difference between a fine art engraving and a reproduction print. Here, the refinement, discernible even in the slightest variations in grain, is itself a material for artistic expression. An abstract engraving, however, substantial in its impact on the movements of real existence, just like the two poems which, despite their impeccable formal control, emit their metaphysical echoes but also convey a concrete world imbued with authentic melancholy. (o. c.) Here some images:     
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DIKTAION • Osvaldo Coluccino - Bruno Ceccobelli Artist book: 1 unpublished poem (Diktaion), from the unpublished collection Quale leggerezza (1990) by Osvaldo Coluccino, and 2 original works of art (watercolor, oil and wax pastels on paper), that is 18 works, unique pieces, 2 for each book, by Bruno Ceccobelli (2022). The object: 9 copies signed by the poet and the artist, poems printed on handmade paper made in India according to ancient tradition, 100% cotton, 250 gr., size cm. 45x32. Graphic project and printing by Osvaldo Coluccino. Roberto Rodriguez Publisher, Pescara 2022. This is the third of a collection of artist books designed by Osvaldo Coluccino made with three artists of different styles but united by the particularity of having strong ties with poetry. The artist: Museums around the world host works by Bruno Ceccobelli (Monte Castello di Vibio 1952), including MoMA of New York, Uffizi in Florence - Vasari Complex, MAMbo in Bologna, MACRO in Rome, GAM of Turin, MUMOK of Vienna, San Diego Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Groninger Museum, Civic Gallery of Modena, Farnesina Collection of Rome… Critical note: Ceccobelli’s art is an outsider art of the late twentieth century (as it was previously, albeit with different results, e.g. that of Alberto Savinio); it has been compared in some respects to that of Alberto Burri and sometimes considered post-transavantgarde. Even here in Diktaion, title of my poem, which identifies the cave in which Zeus was born, etc., also thanks to his study of alchemy, oriental philosophies and theosophy, Ceccobelli comes to express his own spiritual symbolism, with metaphysical force, that differentiates his research from those of other references. The title of the poem, a unique piece in the book, identifies the cave in which Zeus was born: in a visionary journey, made even more credible by stylistic mastery, the poem stages a magical and allegorical journey, from gestation to birth, free, however, from the descriptive aspect typical of narrative, operating through multidirectional sensors that are the prerogative of poetry. (o. c.) Photos of some pages:        
* * * ESSENZE, ASSENZE • Osvaldo Coluccino - Giulia Napoleone, 2022 Artist book: 3 unpublished poems (Essenza della montagna, Unione con le assenze, Il viaggio di ritorno) from the unpublished collection Quale leggerezza (1990) by Osvaldo Coluccino, and 2 original works of art (pastels on paper), that is 18 unique pieces, 2 for each book, by Giulia Napoleone (2022). The object: 9 copies signed by the poet and the artist, poems printed on handmade paper made in India according to ancient tradition, 100% cotton, 250 gr., and artist works printed on handmade paper Hahnemühle 300 gr., size cm. 45x32. Graphic project and printing by Osvaldo Coluccino. Roberto Rodriguez Publisher, Pescara 2022. This is the second of a collection of three artist books designed by Osvaldo Coluccino made with three artists of different styles but united by the particularity of having strong ties with poetry. The exhibitions: 1) Libri e artisti (displayed in the window as main work), L’Originale Gallery, Montenapoleone area, Milan, 23.11.-23.12.2022; 2) Pietra Acqua, Areapangeart Gallery, Bellinzona, 17.3-30.6.2023; 3) Osvaldo Coluccino, “Incontri d’Arte”, Areapangeart, Bellinzona, 12.6.2023. The artist: Giulia Napoleone (Pescara 1936) has exhibited in prestigious exhibitions, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna di Roma, Uffizi di Firenze - Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Calcografia Nazionale di Roma, Biblioteca d’Arte e Architettura Poletti in Modena, Centre Pompidou in Paris, MAMbo (Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Bologna), Palazzo Strozzi di Firenze, Biennale di Venezia (with an artist book), and in various nations in Europe and America Important museums house works by her. Critical note: Giulia Napoleone’s work represents a unicum in the international artistic panorama, comparable, for rigor, radical concentration, silence, purity and a certain poetic lyricism – albeit with different aesthetic results – to that of Giorgio Morandi. Even here in Essenze, assenze, in the delicate blues of pastels on paper, her art is characterized by a maniacal, slow and precise work on detail, by the sensitization of surfaces and by the search for the absolute. And these poems, in turn maniacal in their work on formal detail as well as in semantic pregnancy, show their sensitivity in the “essences“ starting from their musicality, but can reveal their overall virtual power in unravelling the mystery of the “present absences“ only after repeated, private and careful study. (o. c.) Photos of some pages:           
  Giulia Napoleone at work on Essenze, assenze
QUALE LEGGEREZZA • Osvaldo Coluccino - Tommaso Cascella Artist book: 3 unpublished poems (La migrazione, Mare, Quale leggerezza) from the unpublished collection Quale leggerezza (1990) by Osvaldo Coluccino, and 2 original works of art (mixed technique on paper), that is 18 works, unique pieces, 2 for each book, by Tommaso Cascella (2022). The object: 9 copies signed by the poet and the artist, 100% cotton handmade paper, made in India according to ancient tradition, size cm. 45x32. Graphic project and printing by Osvaldo Coluccino. Roberto Rodriguez Publisher, Pescara 2022. This is the first of a collection of three artist books designed by Osvaldo Coluccino made with three artists of different styles but united by the particularity of having strong ties with poetry. The artist: Tommaso Cascella (Rome 1951) has exhibited in international prestigious exhibitions in Berlin, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Klagenfurt, Bratislava, China, Slovakia, at the Venice Biennale, Rome Quadrennial, MACRO, State Council, University of Rome… In 1981 he founded the poetry and art magazine “Cervo Volante” directed by Adriano Spatola and then by Edoardo Sanguineti and Achille Bonito Oliva. Various museums house works by him. His artist book Il megacostruttoredivoli with Alfonso Filieri is present at the MoMA in New York. Critical note: Cascella’s is a poetic art, with its “lightness” of the soul. In this book-work which takes its title from the poem Quale leggerezza, in a timeless dimension, and which, due to the events of our artist, tells us of his closeness also to the the poets of the word, make us think to the poetics of artists from whom, in some ways, he comes, like Paul Klee, Joan Mirò, Osvaldo Licini, Fausto Melotti and also, for the frankness of the colors (the red so vivid, the captivating blue…) to Matisse. The three poems in turn express “lightness“, the typology of which must be investigated through a dynamic aspect of this concept: to grasp the halo (lightness) of a parallel life that can only be expressed and perceived in this way, ineffably, a musical life, clear in its darkness. (o. c.) Photos of some pages:           
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MANTO • Osvaldo Coluccino - Franco Guerzoni
Artist book: the entire unpublished collection of poems entitled Manto by Osvaldo Coluccino (2001-2003), and 5 original graphic works (mixed technique), always slightly different from one book to another, by Franco Guerzoni (2021).
The object: 41 copies of the book signed by the poet and the artist, printed by hand with chalcographic techniques and hand touches, and for texts with lead movable type, handmade paper Magnani (pages) and Silky Indian paper (cover), 72 pages, size cm. 41x31x5. Printed by the Manfredi Brothers Laboratory, Reggio Emilia, Roberto Rodriguez Publisher, Pescara 2021.
The exhibitions: 1) BOoks, art book festival, third edition dedicated to Franco Guerzoni and three other historic artists, MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, 26, 27, 28 September 2025, curated by Danilo Montanari and Lorenzo Balbi, Civic Museums of the Municipality of Bologna. 2) Manto was acquired into its collection by the Poletti Library of Art and Architecture. 3) It can be found at the most prestigious Italian antiquarian and rare artist books stores, such as Pontremoli Libreria Antiquaria in Milan, Giorgio Maffei Rare Books on 20th Century Arts in Turin, Marini Studio Bibliografico in Rome, Le Muse Studio Bibliografico in Reggio Emilia.
The artist: Franco Guerzoni (Modena 1948) has exhibited in prestigious international exhibitions, Munich, Stuttgart, France, Basel, Venice Biennale, Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Museo del Novecento in Milan, MAMbo in Bologna, GAM in Turin… Important museums house works by him. He publishes among others with Skira.
Critical note: Guerzoni’s is a poetics of memory, of the archeology, which is found in the “ruins”, in the shattered escapes of a passage, which emerge from matter as ancestral or unconscious places. His works in Manto sometimes have transparency and extreme delicacy of a diaphanous transit, at other times have the intense trace expressed for example in its light blue, the ultramarine blue, Prussian blue, with a metaphysical capacity. Just as the poems in this book delve into the ancestral and ineffable spaces of existence thanks to the sensitive potential of the word, which attempts to bring to the surface (on the mantle) every relic, and thanks to their multiplicity of meaning starting from the title which must be read in different meanings, not least that of the name of a seer from Greek myth (o. c.)
Video: see here
Photos of some pages:
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| Manto among other works by Franco Guerzoni printed in a book |
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| Franco Guerzoni at work on Manto |
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| Franco Guerzoni at work on Manto |
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GAMETE • Osvaldo Coluccino - Giulio Paolini
Book: the entire unpubliched collection of poems entitled Gamete by Osvaldo Coluccino, and original work of art on the cover by Giulio Paolini created especially for this book.
The object: standard print by L’artigiana graphic company Alba, with national distribution. Graphic project by Franco Mello, afterword by Gilberto Isella, Coup d’idée Art Editions, Turin 2014.
The artist: Giulio Paolini’s works (Genoa 1940) are present in various museums around the world, Tate Gallery in London, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Guggenheim Museum in New York, MoMa in New York, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, MAM Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna di Roma, Museo del Novecento di Milano, Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, MUMOK Museum of Vienna, and many others.
Critical note: Paolini’s art is known for its elegance. Starting from themes linked to classical iconography, his language proposes a world of Beauty that, suspended outside the frenzy of everyday life, expresses its metaphysical strength in a modern way through research on thought, space and poetry. Here, on the back cover, his work created specifically for the book Gamete, proposes a theme dear to him, an unreal, poetic constellation; in conjunction with a style of verse that conveys something equally elegantly classical and with the appearance of the ancient as well as of the radically new. (o. c.)
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APPUNTAMENTO • Osvaldo Coluccino - Marco Gastini
Artist book: the entire collection of poems in prose and verse entitled Appuntamento (1994-1997), by Osvaldo Coluccino, and dozens of original handmade illustrations and one original aquatint by Marco Gastini (2009).
The object: 69 copies of the book signed by the poet and the painter, hand printed book with chalcographic techniques, and for texts with ancient Linotype and lead movable type, hand made paper Alcantara (pages), Hahnemühle (aquatint) and Canson (cover), 100 pages, size cm. 24,5x17x4. Foreword by Stefano Agosti, graphic design by Franco Mello, printed by Calcografia “Al Pozzo” Liboà, Dogliani Castello, Coup d'idée Art Editions, Turin 2010.
The exhibitions: 1) Osvaldo Coluccino e Marco Gastini presentano Appuntamento, GAM (Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Torino), presented by Stefano Agosti, Franco Mello and Elena Volpato, 22.4.2010; 2) Illuminations – Osvaldo Coluccino, Neuma q, Castello di Rivoli - Museum of Contemporary Art, 17.4-29.5.2011, presented by Andrea Bellini; 3) Provocazioni e corrispondenze. Franco Mello fra arte e design, Fondazione Plart - Museo Madre, Napoli, presented by the director of Museo Madre Andrea Viliani, Franco Mello, Giovanna Cassese, Maria Pia Incutti, Cecilia Cecchini 9.3 -6.3.2017.
The artist: Marco Gastini (Turin 1938-2018) has exhibited in prestigious internazionali exhibitions, MAMbo, Bologna, GAM, Torino, Castello di Rivoli, Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munchen, Frankurter Kunstverein, Biennale di Venezia, PAC, Milano, Quadriennale di Roma… Important museums host works by him. His artist book Pantomima is present at MoMA in New York.
Critical note: Gastini is a poet of painting, with his essentials signs (sometimes remembering, in a certain way, those of the oriental traditional arts), with the poetics of the fragment, the tender or hieratic stain suspended in the void, the radical rarefaction, working on different surfaces, paper, canvas, walls etc., often with asymmetrical boundaries, working on solidity as well as transparency, constantly reflecting on the dialectic between virtual and real space of the work, Gastini demonstrates all this in the many essential works which act as a counterpoint to the enigmatic but precise and magical poems in the book Appuntamento (o. c.)
Video: 1) see here 2) see here (at 26:54 a frame of a page from Appuntamento)
Photos of some pages:
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book presentation: read here
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LO SCORRERE DEL TEMPO DI UN BARATTOLO DI VETRO • Wainer Vaccari - Osvaldo Coluccino
Artist book: 11 original serigraphs by Wainer Vaccari (2007), and 1 dvd with original music by Osvaldo Coluccino, After, electroacoustic music (2007), and video by Giulio Fregni (2008).
The object: 39 copies, hand printed book, texts composed with linotype, hand made paper Hahnemühle, size cm. 24,5x17x3. Afterword by Gabriele Tinti, graphic design by Franco Mello, print by Calcografia “Al Pozzo”, Dogliani Castello, Il Gran Ballo delle Arti editions, Turin 2009.
The exhibitions: 1) Are you a lucky artist?, Biblioteca d’Arte e Architettura Poletti, FestivalFilosofia, Modena 2010, cover of the catalog Skira edition; 2) Provocazioni e corrispondenze. Franco Mello fra arte e design, Fondazione Plart - Museo Madre, Napoli March 9-Giune 3, 2017.
The artist: Wainer Vaccari (Modena 1949) has exhibited in prestigious international exhibitions. Works by him are kept eg. in Palazzo Chigi, Italian Parliament (Rome), in the Stedelijkmuseum in Amsterdam, in the Horsenskunstmuseum in Horsens (Denmark), in the Musée d'art et d’histoire in Neuchâtel…
Critical note: Vaccari has chosen the figurative art; modernity is never a question of whether the figurative or the abstract is appropriate. Often his paintings represent imaginary human beings in a sort of theatrical representation of the unconscious; when, as here, he tries his hand at “still life”, of our days, in this case “banal” jars of olives, he demonstrates his mastery in painting hieratic and transparent architectures in an almost photographic three-dimensionality personalized by interference of sensible signs. The dynamism of the music in the attached video, underlines the multiplicity of the frames of such jars that follow one another making that flow in time. (o. c.)
Video: see here
Photos of some pages:
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APPUNTAMENTO • Osvaldo Coluccino, with a work by Francesco Franco, 2001 Book: poems by Osvaldo Coluccino, original etching by Francesco Franco entitled Enigma, afterword by Giorgio Luzzi, Anterem, Verona 2001. Etching in 30 copies printed by Franco Masoero in Turin. Francesco Franco (Mondovì 1924-Turin 2019) was pupil of Felice Casorati. Among other exhibitions: Quadriennale di Roma 1959, Venice Biennale 1962, in Sao Paulo, Berlin, Moscow and at the Metropolitan Museum of New York… His works are permanently at the Civic Gallery of Modern Art in Turin, the Prints and Drawings Department of the Uffizi in Florence and at the Chalcography National of Rome. Here details, by clicking on “Opera”, then “Incisione", “2000-01”, “Enigma”: see here   |
EXHIBITIONS and more
not in chronological order
JOHN MCCRACKEN • Osvaldo Coluccino - John McCracken, at Castello di Rivoli Contemporary Art Museum, 2011
Anthological exhibition by the painter john McCracken, music by Osvaldo Coluccino, Neuma q for electroacoustic music, transmitted during two weeks of the exhibition, and separate concert with Stanze for piano (Alfonso Alberti, piano), exhibition curated by Andrea Bellini, Castello di Rivoli Contemporary Art Museum, 2011, Skira catalog, Milan 2011.
John McCracken (Berkeley 1938-New York 2011) was an important American artist, his works are preserved and exhibited in prestigious museums. In the world of art it has often been argued that the famous monolith of 2001: A Space Odyssey was inspired to Kubrick precisely by McCracken, or that he was the one who created it.
Videos: 01) see here 02) see here
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BUNKER POETICO • Marco Nereo Rotelli with also a poem by Osvaldo Coluccino, at Biennale di Venezia, 2001
Art installation by Marco Nereo Rotelli, poem Libera by Osvaldo Coluccino exhibited in the installation.
The Poetic Bunker is a work created for the 49th Venice Biennale by Marco Nereo Rotelli: for three hundred meters, at Arsenale, a cluster of doors, windows and other rubble from flooded areas, mixed with metal panels with a shiny and specular surface, supports verses made for the occasion by major poets from different parts of the world on the theme of “the other”.
Marco Nereo Rotelli (Venice 1955) has exhibited in prestigious international exhibitions. He created an interrelation between art and the different disciplines of knowledge. Hence his involvement in his search for philosophers, musicians, photographers, directors, but mainly his relationship is with poetry which, over time, has become a constant reference for his work. In addition to the poetic bunker, he has created other installations in very prestigious international contexts.
Video with the philosopher Gianni Vattimo, the poet Edoardo Sanguineti, the philosopher Massimo Donà and the artist Marco Nereo Rotelli at Bunker Poetico (from 2:44:10 at the end they visit that installation): watch here
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NEUMA Q • Osvaldo Coluccino at Egyptian Museum of Turin, 2010
Acousmatic concert: music by Osvaldo Coluccino, among masterpieces of ancient Egyptian art.
Public presentation by Enzo Restagno, sound engineer Rinaldo Dealbera, light designer Sergio Rissone, Statuary of the Egyptian Museum, Turin, 2010.
The Statuary of the Egyptian Museum of Turin is a very large, long and high hall, which benefits from a stage set by the set designer (Oscar winner) Dante Ferretti. Several prestigious speakers were suspended high up in the void along the hall, while some large cubes of subwoofer, placed behind the statues, gave an incredible depth to the sound, which flowed transparently in the haunted air of that space. Fascinating friction between the very ancient and the very modern, which gave rise to the “timeless”. Faces of goddesses, gods, sphinxes and pharaohs, imprisoned in the monumental statues were slowly illuminated from the dark and returned in the dark; around two “columns” more than 5 meters high, a serpentine of light slowly twisted… while the music made the hall resound, hovering around statues of over 3000 years ago.
Video: see here
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MANIMANIA • Rosetta Berardi - Osvaldo Coluccino, at Manifesta – European Biennial of Contemporary Art, 2008
Art installation: video by Rosetta Berardi, music by Osvaldo Coluccino, Neuma q, for electroacoustic music, at Manifesta 7, Trento, Audi Hangar, September 2008. Her work with the hands of Osvaldo Coluccino was also exhibited in that installation and then given to him as a gift: Intreccio, lambda print on forex, cm 30x40, 2008.
Rosetta Berardi moves between painting, installation and photography; in recent years photography has assumed an important role in her artistic production. She lives and works in Ravenna and has exhibited her works in various renowned exhibitions in Italy and abroad.
It is written on her website in connection with Manimania: “The artist’s gaze turns to the hands, chosen as an instrument of human action. So they are the representation of creativity in all senses. They are ultimately the junction point between abstract and material thought. Hands of powerful people, of poor people, hands of children, hands of old people, calm, nervous hands… follow one another as protagonists in the video”.
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| Rosetta Berardi, Intreccio, lambda print on forex, 2008 (hands of Osvaldo Coluccino) |
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NEUMA Q • Osvaldo Coluccino - Claudio Sinatti, 2010
Acousmatic concert: music by Osvaldo Coluccino and videos by Claudio Sinatti.
Sound designer Attila Faravelli, Municipal Theater, Domodossola, October 2010.
The encyclopedia says: “Claudio Sinatti (Milan 1972-2014) was an Italian artist, director, video artist and performance artist. […] Visionary video artist and experimenter, he dedicated himself to the creation of spatial video systems and sound visualization; he had created and written generative software capable of creating images in relation to sounds. […] In 2016, the Museo del Novecento in Milan hosted a photographic exhibition with works created by Sinatti between 2012 and 2013.”
Video: 01) see here 02) see here
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WITHOUT WITNESS • Joseph Edward Rozzo - Osvaldo Coluccino, 2009
Video by Joseph Edward Rozzo, chamber music by Osvaldo Coluccino, Without witness (2004), performed by Algoritmo Ensemble, Marco Angius conductor, RAI Trade Editions.
Joseph Edward Rozzo (New York 1947) is an American photographer, teacher and director. For example from 1982 to 1984 he was invited by the Brera Art Gallery to create and direct the Brera / Fotografia program; in 1999-2000 there was a personal exhibition of him at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan; In 2002, his multimedia project The Value of People created for Banca Popolare di Verona won the prestigious EMMA Award for excellence as the best international multimedia project in the corporate communication category. In 2011, his short film Urgent Stories won the Van Gogh Award for Best Urban Film at the Amsterdam International Film Festival…
Video: see here
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RITRATTO DELLA VOCE • Giulia Adami and Cosimo Lerose, 1998
Photographic portrait of the poet Osvaldo Coluccino by Giulia Adami, work of art under the portrait by Cosimo Lerose, in the book Ritratto della voce, Cierre Grafica, Verona, 1998. The portrait is taken from the retirement of the Lorenzo Montano Literary Prize 1996.
