(Homs, Libya 1934–1998 Rome) N. 6, titled, on the reverse signed, dated Schifano, 1960, enamel paint on paper on canvas, 63 x 50 x 5.5 cm, in plexiglas box, (PP)

The work has been registered by the Archivio Generale dell’Opera di Mario Schifano under the archive no. 02313121012 .

Provenance:
Emilio Mazzoli, Modena (with confirmation);
Roberto Monti, Rome;
Private Collection, Italy

Exhibition:
Schifano 1960 – 1964, Dal monocromo alla strada, Fondazione Marconi, Milan, 10 February – 26 March 2005, exhibition catalogue, page 21 with ill.

Literature:
Mario Schifano, A) I°, Opere su tela 1956–1982, Milan, page 27, no. 60/052 with ill. (…)

Imprinted, sometimes, in the layer of coloured paint is a number, almost a Dadaesque signature: because, we understand, Schifano‘s painting is, first of all, a Dada “gesture”. Dadaism is, again, the duplicity of points of view whereby the brilliant intensity of colour directs the viewer‘s attention, letting the viewer share in the artist‘s gesture. It has been said that Schifano‘s painting is, at first sight, nothing more than an indicator of something else. But when this signal is triggered, you feel as if you have entered the spatial coordinates of colour, attention fixed for its own sake which is not a prelude to action, but is not contemplation; in the very instant that you realise the impossibility of formulating a judgement of value on the object of your perception, you become aware - it is already a moment after the first impression - that you are not doing anything other than consciously assuming the endless repertoire of visual practices and signalling ploys which in daily life force you into a process of obliged steps and gazes. (…)
Thus it is possible, finally, to assign a value to the innumerable visual practices, to the disparate signalling ploys of our “daily concrete jungle”. (...) If this is, as it seems to us, the process to which Schifano‘s research refers, there is no doubt that this young artist was able to interpret the Dada phenomenon in his own unique way, if only for the novelty of the visual content.
(Vittorio Rubiu, Schifano. 1960-1964. Dal monocromo alla strada, page 20)