Stanza, Giallo Oro [Room, Yellow Gold]
1994
Painting, 3 x ( 200 x 200 cm ).
Materials: wood, pigment
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. BK6888_M149).
In his three-dimensional monochrome paintings, the Italian artist Ettore Spalletti combines a discrete range of colours, mainly in pastel shades, with an almost tactile sensuality. Paradoxically enough, however, it is strictly forbidden to touch them; they are after all fragile works built up by using many layers of pigment. In addition to its atmospheric quality, Painting, Yellow Air, a gold-yellow triptych, also has unmistakable sculptural properties: the middle canvas (apparently distanced from the wall by a white coloured pencil), which leaps forth out of its frame, breaks the uniform plane of Spalletti’s contemplative mural and introduces a certain element of disruption and spatial disorientation.