L’Osservatorio (The Observatory)
Three contemporary artists have been invited to respond to Claudio Del Sole’s works and concerns with newly created works, which will be exhibited alongside Del Sole’s.
Claudio Del Sole (1924-2005) was a member of the Astralist group of Italian artists. The group was founded in 1959, with a manifesto which reflected the explosion of excitement around the newly developing space age.
1959 was the year when the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 sent back the first images of the ‘dark side’ of the moon. The Astralists included the celebrated experimental artist Sante Monachesi. Claudio Del Sole’s sublime, elegant and mysterious semi-abstract mixed media paintings sit within the formalist tradition of Italian modern art, but they also speak of a passionate engagement with the beginnings of the space age and a deep and serious observation of the stars. The artist built his own observatory in the countryside outside Rome, and L’Osservatorio de Claudio del Sole astronomical observatory in Rome bears his name.
James Brooks, D J Roberts and Patrick White present a nuanced and contemporary response to the late Italian artist’s works, in media which include drawing, painting, neon and film.
The L’Osservatorio project is accompanied by a commissioned text by Christopher Adams, co-curator at the Estorick Foundation of modern italian art, London, who has also provided invaluable art historical knowledge and curatorial advice.