****Dep Art Gallery and Galerie Volker Diehl jointly present the shaped canvases of Italian artist Turi Simeti (1929-2021), renowned for their reductionist painterly language of monochrome and relief. Born in Sicily and largely self-taught, Simeti moved in 1958 to Rome where he came into contact with an important early mentor, Alberto Burri. Simeti joined the ZERO group in 1965 following an invitation to participate in the seminal Zero Avantgarde exhibition held in Lucio Fontana's Milan studio. Simeti subsequently settled permanently in Milan, sharing in the group's exploration of light, shadow, and monochromatic surfaces. In contrast with Fontana's Spatialist incisions, Simeti extended the canvas into space with relief elements that foregrounded the paintings as objects. The oval or ellipse became his lifelong motif. "In the area of the oval the surface gains an excitement, a vibrancy, the light gives it a depth," Simeti said.
Location
Cipriani South Street
10 South Street, New York, NY 10004