Gastone Novelli
L’ombelico steso al sole, 1959
mixed media on canvas (fabric, plaster and oil on canvas), 75 × 110 cm
In 1960, Achille Perilli and Fabio Mauri questioned their artist friends on the topic Death of painting? for the "Almanacco Letterario Bompiani". In his response, Gastone Novelli interprets this provocation in terms of a "death of form and not of painting which in fact I think is taking on the physiognomy of a new, more complex and more human language in these times. It's like when a language changes due to the enrichment of its alphabet. If today it is possible to find a new way of telling a story in certain painting and therefore distinguish it from traditional image painting (Rothko, Burri, Tàpies, etc.) this is certainly a sign of vitality".
from: 1961. Tempo di Continuità, exhibition catalogue, edited by F. Gualdoni, Milano, Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro, 2014, pp. 16-17.
