Untitled

This untitled work consists of a canvas, a sheet of granite, and a cable tied in a slipknot. The suspension of the stone conveys a certain lightness to the heavy material, while the juxtaposition of the rock with the canvas initiates a dialogue between sculpture and the space of painting. Giovanni Anselmo frequently uses granite in his practice. Its juxtaposition here with materials traditionally associated with painting subverts our expectations for representational, two-dimensional form on the canvas surface. Anselmo both refutes and literalizes historical conception of painting as “a window on the world.” The opacity and physical presence of the stone refuses access to the space of representation, where we might expect to see an illusionistic image of the world. At the same time, the natural material literalizes painting’s presentation of the world for the viewer. Subverting traditional conceptions of artistic authorship, Anselmo presents the viewer with a massive stone; he asks us to contemplate the literal weight and gravitas of the work of art. The work is an example of Anselmo breaking with artistic conventions and their limitations—a characteristic gesture of Arte Povera.