Abstraction Matters Abstraction Matters: Contemporary Sculptors in Their Own Words Edited by Cristina Baldacci, Michele Bertolini, Stefano Esengrini and Andrea Pinotti Abstraction Matters: Contemporary Sculptors in Their Own Words Edited by Cristina Baldacci, Michele Bertolini, Stefano Esengrini and Andrea Pinotti This book first published 2019 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2019 by Cristina Baldacci, Michele Bertolini, Stefano Esengrini, Andrea Pinotti and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-1810-8 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-1810-0 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ...................................................................................................... viii Andrea Pinotti Part I. Sensation Introduction ................................................................................................. 2 Michele Bertolini Chapter One ................................................................................................. 5 Abstraction in Noguchi’s Own Words: In Search of Permanence Clarissa Ricci Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 19 Yves Klein: All that is Solid Melts into Air Filippo Fimiani Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 32 Gianni Colombo: A Critique of Perception in a Mobile World Anna Detheridge Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 44 To Whom it may Concern: Richard Serra and the Phenomenology of Intransitive Monumentality Andrea Pinotti Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 59 Matthew Barney: The Semiotic Sculptural Body Angela Mengoni Part II. Idea Introduction ............................................................................................... 70 Stefano Esengrini vi Table of Contents Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 73 Vision, Perception, Openness: David Smith’s New Sculpture Stefano Esengrini Chapter Seven............................................................................................ 84 The Simplest Image: Tony Smith’s “Cubes” Georges Didi-Huberman Chapter Eight ............................................................................................. 95 Donald Judd’s Specificity Elio Grazioli Chapter Nine............................................................................................ 102 The Experience of Sculpture in Robert Morrisʼs Notes on Sculpture Michele Bertolini Part III. Language Introduction ............................................................................................. 116 Cristina Baldacci Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 120 Impossible Objects: On Francesco Lo Savio’s Metals Riccardo Venturi Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 135 “Sculpture is Matter Mattering”: Spatialization of Matter and Visual Poetry in Carl Andre Giuseppe Di Liberti Chapter Twelve ....................................................................................... 146 Tensional Creation: Luciano Fabro’s Sculpture between Conceptualism and Abstraction Davide Dal Sasso Chapter Thirteen ...................................................................................... 158 “Language to be Looked at and/or Things to be Read:” Language as a Sculptural Material in Robert Smithson Cristina Baldacci Abstraction Matters: Contemporary Sculptors in Their Own Words vii Chapter Fourteen ..................................................................................... 168 Joseph Kosuth and The Play of the Unmentionable David Freedberg Abstracts .................................................................................................. 179 Contributors ............................................................................................. 186