(Castelmassa, Rovigo 1930–2017 Viterbo)
Superficie, 1973, signed, titled and dated on the reverse, acrylic on shaped canvas, 80 x 120 cm x 4 cm, in a plexiglass box

This work is registered in the Archivio Castellani under no. 73–001 and it is accompanied by a photo-certificate of authenticity.

Provenance:
Galleria dell’Ariete, Milan (label and stamp on the reverse)
Folci Collection, Milan
European Private Collection

Literature:
G. Simongini, Astrattismo italiano, De Luca Editore, Rome 2004, p. 80.
R. Wirz, F. Sardella, Enrico Castellani. Catalogo ragionato, Opere 1955–2005, Skira, Milan 2012, Vol. I, p. 184 no. 370 with ill.; Vol. II, p. 417, no. 370 with ill.

The canvas belongs to a series of works titled Superficie or simply Opaline or even Superfici opaline. The name clearly recalls opal, a stone that, for its color, veining and transparency, is similar to the tonalities characteristic of the canvases in these works, realized according to criteria for which the introflexed and extroflexed surface is painted with acrylic, while the rest of the canvas is covered by polyester resin.

The Superficie opaline were born in 1970 and for around five years, Enrico Castellani continued to experiment in this environment, using resin, acrylics, glues and other substances to render a transparent effect on the canvas. This series of works is made up of about 40 pieces, some of which are of a larger format than the others.
This type of canvas surface treatment, that allows the central part of the structure to be partially unveiled, was investigated by the artist only in those years.

A possible reference to this investigation of structure can be found in Carla Accardi’s unpainted works made only of sicofoil. A brief and happy parenthesis for Carla, as for Castellani both worked in an environment of reflection on the act of painting and its means of expression. Their results have proved to be extremely successful, dictated by the heightened awareness of employed means and their unstoppable desire to reduce expressive means to the minimum terms.