Antonio Carena - Skies

Hi everyone!

Today, I will talk about an Italian painter, Antonio Carena, born in 1925 in Rivoli, Municipality near Turin, and dead in 2010. I went to an his exhibition when I was 8 and I never forgot him!! He is among those artists who create and define their personality during the Post war period, when the artists’ civil and moral commitment joins the community’s and State’s commitment for the reconstruction.

This post will focus on a specific stream among Carena’s work, The Skies (I Cieli).

The first works of the new stream dated 1965, after a long gestation and a deep study on light. The idea of the space, the light and the light blue has always been a landmark for his work.

With the Skies series he uses to de-contextualise the object as Duchamp already did. In this way Carena captures, packs and closes the object, giving it a new meaning.

During almost forty years Carena represent Skies on every type of surface, from cars to Plexiglas, from fresco painting to collages. Through the Skies he faces the problem of representation in all its forms and one of the most perceived issues in Art, the correspondence among the work and the reality. Finally, he comes at the conclusion that the Sky doesn’t exist, but he’s him that has invited it.

After his death his works still remain of great impact on the spectator and attract constantly visitors.

For those who are interested, you can find more works here (http://www.arte2000.net/artisti/carena/opere/opere.html), unfortunately the web site is in Italian! If you need further information feel free to ask me!

The one on the left his the author.