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LUCIANO CASTELLI
born 1951 in Lucern, Switzerland
Luciano Castelli became well known between 1979 and 1983 as a
representative member of the Berlin expressive, gestic school of
painting, known as the New Wilds. But he had already established
an earlier artistic career in Lucern, around Franz Gertsch, and
in 1972 he had sculptures in the first "documenta" exhibition
there. In addition, his friendship with the Parisian
photographer Pierre Mollinier had led to an early encounter with
photography. While sculptures, paintings and large-format
drawings soon found their way into international exhibitions -
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Hirshorn Museum in
Washington and the Mus?e de Beaux Arts, Lausanne, for example .
The Mus?e de la Photographie Europ?ene in Paris opened with his
work. In the tradition of self-portrait he places his person in
the scene, in a photograph, on the canvas or on paper,
transformed, made-up or masked, thus inventing himself and
others as objects of desire.
In Germany his works always resemble a gift from France; now the
blue, red and gold of a Sonia Delaunay are rendered at home here
by Castelli. On occasions expressive Berlin gestures and colours
appear, but the drawings in particular are distinguished by an
elegance familiar from Matisse but not apparent since then. It
is thus appropriate that Castelli has also been living and
working in Paris for some years - at the Place Pigalle, of
course. His work has become more complex since then - the
influence of French esprits is not to be denied. The new works
are invitations to explore; much is familiar yet encoded at the
same time, the colourful world of a de Stael or a Hartung is
modified by thoughtful mid-tones. Everything is dominated by an
artistic sovereignty and pictorial quality such as can only
appear in Paris - and which can be embodied with particular
grace by a citizen of the world whose origins are in
Switzerland.