Michelangelo Pistoletto

Michelangelo Pistoletto (Biella, 1933 – )

Among the works located within the historical spaces of the Fattoria di Celle, Michelangelo Pistoletto’s piece represents an exception to the rule as it develops a previous version of the work that had already been exhibited in 1980 in a space identical, both in surface and architecture, to the room on the top floor of the Villa where the four components of Testacoda are now found. The perfect compatibility of the places convinced Giuliano Gori to transform, exceptionally, the temporality of the first version into a permanent installation. Happy to find a permanent location for this important stage in his career, in 1982 Pistoletto accompanied the work to its new location in order to achieve an even more precise adherence to the characteristics of the space. The friendship between the artist and Giuliano Gori has continued uninterrupted ever since; on June 2, 2023, an affectionate meeting took place inside the video room at Celle, in collaboration with the Fondazione Michelangelo Pistoletto, to present his new book “La formula dellacreazione,” alongside the author-artist in dialogue with Elisa Biagini and Fabio Gori.

“This about-faceconcept takes on an active form in my works since I use primary, that is to say, simple and poor, materialsto express a renewal of the imaginative process. To be specific, these four objects are crystallized into just the idea I’ve been describing: after a certain distance in time, only the tail of Arte Povera survives; the head remains halfway through the nineteen sixties. But the tail, too, does an about-faces and turns into a head (which rears its crest). In the end is the beginning and so on. Thus, the scythe on the variegated globe of colored canvases is a reaping, a harvest; it is the death of one nature which in turn provides sustenance for new life. Here, the ram is an animal all head, or all tail, while the empty manger is the feeding place for animals with tails made of straw.” — Michelangelo Pistoletto in “Gori Collection. Site Specific Art at the Fattoria di Celle,” Gli Ori, Pistoia, p327

Michelangelo Pistoletto

Works by the artist

The Headtail. The Tail of Arte Povera

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