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Lot Essay
'The drawings in biro are concentrates of time... they convey to me a physical impression of extended, immense time' (A. Boetti, quoted in Alighiero Boetti. Mettere al mondo il mondo, exh. cat., Frankfurt, Museum für Moderne Kunst, 1998, p. 59).
'A word changes into a sign, into a compilation of commas which means something. You see, that is a rule... One of my biro works was called Seguire il filo del discorso (following the thread of the conversation). You follow the thread of these commas. To follow the thread of a conversation is tautology, and quite apart from the rule, there is the structure of the transformation of the word into a sign. This is what you must make visible, you must render the comma visible as something that is not stable, that is unstable, and these small white points stand on a background hatched by another hand' (A. Boetti, quoted in Alighiero Boetti. Mettere al mondo il mondo, exh. cat., Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 63).
A rhythmic progression of four hand-coloured panels, Alighiero Boetti's Larga approssimazione grande tolleranza is a vast spectacle of colour, its elegant arrangement articulating one of the central principles of Boetti's artistic practice. Handcrafted circa 1978, through a lengthy process of cross-hatching lines with biro pen, when viewed collectively the hundreds of thousands of striations merge into a scintillating sea of crimson and coral. Across the expansive field of red monochrome are staccatos of commas, laid out in a systemised grid according to the letters of the alphabet arranged vertically along the left border of the work. Boetti's coded linguistic system spells out its title from left to right across the four fluctuating monochrome fields of colour. The self-reflexive title Larga approssimazione grande tolleranza translates to Large Approximation Great Tolerance, suggesting not only the patience and concentration required to complete an artistic endeavor as monumental as this work, but also reflecting the conceptual mantra that applies to Boetti's greater oeuvre, the principle he called ordine e disordine (order and disorder). This principle which underpins all of Boetti's art from the late 1960s onwards - including the artist's own twinned identity of himself as Alighiero e Boetti (Alighiero and Boetti) - originated in the ancient thought of philosophers like Heraclitus, and is a central part of the philosophy underlying much Eastern thought, in particular that of Sufi mystics like Boetti's spiritual teacher during the 1970s and '80s, the poet Berang Ramazan. The principle asserts that, like a river, the world exists as a continuous and chaotic flow but maintains itself as a unity. Inherent within chaos is the principle of order and vice versa.
Conceived by the artist as instructional pieces, Boetti stipulated that the biro works be executed by at least one man and one woman, to allow for a variation of individual style within the series. As the artist suggested, 'All that is important is the rule. Anyone who does not know it, will never recognise the prevailing order in things, just as somebody who does not know the order of the stars will always see confusion where an astronomer has a very clear view of things' (A. Boetti, quoted in Alighiero Boetti. Mettere al mondo il mondo, exh. cat., Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 311). The resultant picture is indicative of this playful, tautological exercise: its unique idiosyncrasies reflective of the interpretation of Boetti's open ended instructions. In Larga approssimazione grande tolleranza, the variegated currents of red visually chart the passage of time, the subtle variations of colour corresponding to the multiple biro pens used over the expanses of paper before being laid onto canvas. 'The drawings in biro are concentrates of time', Boetti has stated, 'they convey to me a physical impression of extended, immense time' (A. Boetti, quoted in Alighiero Boetti. Mettere al mondo il mondo, exh. cat., Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 59).
Embodying its self-reflexive title, the meaning of Larga approssimazione grande tolleranza, is anchored in Boetti's distinctive codex. Speaking of these works, Boetti recalled, 'a word changes into a sign, into a compilation of commas which means something. You see, that is a rule... One of my biro works was called Seguire il filo del discorso (Following the Thread of the Conversation)... You follow the thread of these commas. To follow the thread of a conversation is tautology, and quite apart from the rule, there is the structure of the transformation of the word into a sign. This is what you must make visible, you must render the comma visible as something that is not stable, that is unstable, and these small white points stand on a background hatched by another hand' (A. Boetti, quoted in Alighiero Boetti. Mettere al mondo il mondo, exh. cat., Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 63). Engaging the viewer to follow the thread of commas interlaced through the work's elaborate panels, the work transforms from abstract to narrative. Playing on the mystical notion of chaos existing in tandem with order, it is the harmonious balance and interplay of these two principles that Boetti imbues into Larga Approssimazione Grande Tolleranza. In the artist's own words, 'I am interested in primary matters, such as the alphabet, the map, the newspaper, among other things owing to the spring which thus tautens between order and disorder. There is an exact order innate in each and everything, even if it manifests in a disorderly manner' (A. Boetti, quoted in L. Rolf, Alighiero Boetti: mettere al mondo il mondo, exh. cat., Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 29).
'A word changes into a sign, into a compilation of commas which means something. You see, that is a rule... One of my biro works was called Seguire il filo del discorso (following the thread of the conversation). You follow the thread of these commas. To follow the thread of a conversation is tautology, and quite apart from the rule, there is the structure of the transformation of the word into a sign. This is what you must make visible, you must render the comma visible as something that is not stable, that is unstable, and these small white points stand on a background hatched by another hand' (A. Boetti, quoted in Alighiero Boetti. Mettere al mondo il mondo, exh. cat., Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 63).
A rhythmic progression of four hand-coloured panels, Alighiero Boetti's Larga approssimazione grande tolleranza is a vast spectacle of colour, its elegant arrangement articulating one of the central principles of Boetti's artistic practice. Handcrafted circa 1978, through a lengthy process of cross-hatching lines with biro pen, when viewed collectively the hundreds of thousands of striations merge into a scintillating sea of crimson and coral. Across the expansive field of red monochrome are staccatos of commas, laid out in a systemised grid according to the letters of the alphabet arranged vertically along the left border of the work. Boetti's coded linguistic system spells out its title from left to right across the four fluctuating monochrome fields of colour. The self-reflexive title Larga approssimazione grande tolleranza translates to Large Approximation Great Tolerance, suggesting not only the patience and concentration required to complete an artistic endeavor as monumental as this work, but also reflecting the conceptual mantra that applies to Boetti's greater oeuvre, the principle he called ordine e disordine (order and disorder). This principle which underpins all of Boetti's art from the late 1960s onwards - including the artist's own twinned identity of himself as Alighiero e Boetti (Alighiero and Boetti) - originated in the ancient thought of philosophers like Heraclitus, and is a central part of the philosophy underlying much Eastern thought, in particular that of Sufi mystics like Boetti's spiritual teacher during the 1970s and '80s, the poet Berang Ramazan. The principle asserts that, like a river, the world exists as a continuous and chaotic flow but maintains itself as a unity. Inherent within chaos is the principle of order and vice versa.
Conceived by the artist as instructional pieces, Boetti stipulated that the biro works be executed by at least one man and one woman, to allow for a variation of individual style within the series. As the artist suggested, 'All that is important is the rule. Anyone who does not know it, will never recognise the prevailing order in things, just as somebody who does not know the order of the stars will always see confusion where an astronomer has a very clear view of things' (A. Boetti, quoted in Alighiero Boetti. Mettere al mondo il mondo, exh. cat., Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 311). The resultant picture is indicative of this playful, tautological exercise: its unique idiosyncrasies reflective of the interpretation of Boetti's open ended instructions. In Larga approssimazione grande tolleranza, the variegated currents of red visually chart the passage of time, the subtle variations of colour corresponding to the multiple biro pens used over the expanses of paper before being laid onto canvas. 'The drawings in biro are concentrates of time', Boetti has stated, 'they convey to me a physical impression of extended, immense time' (A. Boetti, quoted in Alighiero Boetti. Mettere al mondo il mondo, exh. cat., Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 59).
Embodying its self-reflexive title, the meaning of Larga approssimazione grande tolleranza, is anchored in Boetti's distinctive codex. Speaking of these works, Boetti recalled, 'a word changes into a sign, into a compilation of commas which means something. You see, that is a rule... One of my biro works was called Seguire il filo del discorso (Following the Thread of the Conversation)... You follow the thread of these commas. To follow the thread of a conversation is tautology, and quite apart from the rule, there is the structure of the transformation of the word into a sign. This is what you must make visible, you must render the comma visible as something that is not stable, that is unstable, and these small white points stand on a background hatched by another hand' (A. Boetti, quoted in Alighiero Boetti. Mettere al mondo il mondo, exh. cat., Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 63). Engaging the viewer to follow the thread of commas interlaced through the work's elaborate panels, the work transforms from abstract to narrative. Playing on the mystical notion of chaos existing in tandem with order, it is the harmonious balance and interplay of these two principles that Boetti imbues into Larga Approssimazione Grande Tolleranza. In the artist's own words, 'I am interested in primary matters, such as the alphabet, the map, the newspaper, among other things owing to the spring which thus tautens between order and disorder. There is an exact order innate in each and everything, even if it manifests in a disorderly manner' (A. Boetti, quoted in L. Rolf, Alighiero Boetti: mettere al mondo il mondo, exh. cat., Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 29).