Paper Media: Boetti, Calzolari, Kounellis is the first exhibition in the United States focusing on works on paper by artists related to the Arte Povera movement. Convening the work of three masters: Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, and Jannis Kounellis, selected from the Olnick Spanu Collection, the exhibition will consider the significance of drawing and print within each artist’s practice, as well as in Italian art and culture in the 1960s and 1970s more broadly.

Curated by Magazzino’s inaugural Scholar-in-Residence, Francesco Guzzetti, the exhibition represents the culmination of his research on the drawing practices of Arte Povera artists, as well as the provenance of the works in the Olnick Spanu Collection. An illustrated catalog will accompany the exhibition, focusing on this under-explored area of works on paper from the Arte Povera period and detailing the history of each work on view.

Paper Media: Boetti, Calzolari, Kounellis brings together ten rarely seen works on paper from the Olnick Spanu Collection. As with many of the artists associated with Arte Povera, working with various drawing and printing techniques was fundamental to the practices of Boetti, Calzolari, and Kounellis. In a new development for the period, these artists regarded their works on paper as finished pieces rather than preparatory steps to create an artwork. From Calzolari’s alchemical experimentation with unconventional materials such as rose petals and salt, to Kounellis’ iteration of a new alphabet of signs and images, works on view will speak to the artists’ embrace of formal and material experimentation and intensive questioning of what it meant to be an artist.