The Trauma Of Painting: Italian Self-Taught Artist Alberto Burri

The Trauma of Painting is a major retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum featuring the work of the Italian self-taught artist Alberto Burri. On view through January 6, the exhibition pays homage to Burri’s career in an international context to commemorate the centenary of his birth. The title of the exhibition prepares the museum visitor for something almost dramatic since the word trauma is usually associated with an unpleasant experience that causes someone to have mental or emotional problems for some time. In this case it -probably- refers to the artist’s concept of “painting without paint” and his violent treatment of the canvas, which is often torn or burned through the surface, or it refers to the position of artist as a central protagonist

As a matter of fact, the museum mentions repeatedly, through wall text, pamphlets and the curator’s catalogue essay found on every ramp, the liaison between Burri’s art and his biography. He studied medicine and served as a physician in the Italian army during World War II, where he then was captured and shipped to an American prisoner-of-war camp in Hereford, Texas. It was there that Burri chose creating art over practicing medicine, and where he began his lifelong use of unorthodox materials. In the series of the Gobbi (hunchbacks), for example, the wall text informs the viewer about the possible parallelism between the distorted flat surface of the canvas and Burri’s research thesis on rickets, a disease causing bone deformation. His experience as an army doctor and his surgical skills become a recurring motif as you progress up the ramp exploring the beauty and complexity of Burri’s process-based works. This is reflected especially in the Sacchi (sacks) series, where burlap bags are cut, torn and stitched together. Here you can see the connection that the museum is presenting between his personal experience as a WWII prisoner and his art process. In addition, the Guggenheim provides “a look” at the construction of this material transformation process by displaying

Guggenheim Museum pays homage to the artist with a major retrospective spanning the artist’s entire career. Curated by Emily Braun, the exhibition Alberto Burri: The Trauma of painting unfolds chronologically around the cyclical space of the rotunda and as a continuing progression of styles, materials, processes, and colors. The exhibition is designed to appreciate and contemplate the aesthetic and tactile qualities of the works and teach the audience about Burri’s innovative work process. It also reinforces the idea that Burri’s works are focused on the idea of trauma. However the museum avoids to challenge the public in some ways and encourages the passivity of viewing. Partnering with the italian coffee brand Lavazza, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum also raises the artist’s profile benefiting particularly