Untitled [Study for the Olivetti Showroom, New York City, NY]

Untitled [Study for the Olivetti Showroom, New York City, NY] is a detailed study of a single abstracted figure that recalls some of Nivola’s earliest sandcast experiments. Nivola employed a semi-abstract idiom but a figure is discernible, one that evokes the history and traditions of his native Sardinia. The dark face covering recalls the masks worn by carnival figures such as the Mamuthone. The design incorporates a range of textures and patterns and there are small areas of highlighting in yellow and black. The band of yellow behind the head also evokes the sgraffito technique of mural design, a form of decoration made by scratching through a surface to reveal a lower layer of a contrasting color. This was typically done in plaster or stucco on walls and Nivola was familiar with this technique.