Italian artist Alighiero Boetti proved that conceptual art didn’t have to be visually dull with his Arazzi works – embroidered panels made by Afghan craftswomen in the 80s and 90s featuring Italian and Farsi text from poetry or sayings culled from around the world or authored by the artist. (At Chelsea’s Barbara Gladstone Gallery through March 23rd).
Alighiero Boetti, installation view of ‘La Forza del Centro,’ at Barbara Gladstone Gallery, Feb 2013.
Alighiero Boetti’s gorgeous installation in the MoMA’s atrium defies Sol LeWitt’s oft-quoted 1967 remark about conceptual art that ‘all of the planning and decisions [for a work of art] are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair.’ In ‘Mappa’ from the 70s and 80s (on the back wall) and kilims from 1993 (in the foreground) Boetti commissioned his artwork from Afghan craftswomen, ensuring that execution shares the spotlight with conceptual content while recalling Minimalist seriality and Jasper Johns’ proto-Pop.