Sala 1 is pleased to present the exhibition dedicated to Renato Fascetti, part of the project Re-framing History, created to shed light on the delicate and problematic issue of artist bequests. For years the gallery has been actively dedicated to the care and preservation of artistic memory contained in each artist’s estate, which must be preserved and protected in its integrity. Renato Fascetti has found in his son, Andrè Fascetti, the custodian of his own "memory," which will be seen and revived through this exhibition.

The gallery will exhibit a curated selection of works dating from the 1960s to the 1990s which will retrace the artist's practice, highlighting above all the unusual technique used to create them; they are characterized by the superimposition of multiple "layered reliefs" as defined by Enrico Crispolti, which give tri-dimensionality to the work.

Fascetti's poetic practice is ably described in his own words, "I consider painting to be an organism that articulates its forms in temporal sequence through paths that originate from within it. I try to create a physical space, concrete and at the same time mental, visually traversable and responding to the need to go beyond the orthodoxy of a surface that cancels its origins and the temporal duration of the creation of the work."

A digital catalog published by Sala 1 Edizioni with a text by Toni Maraini will be available upon request

Biography

Renato Fascetti (Rome, 1936 - 2018) studied painting and sculpture at the Rome Municipal Art Institute in Via di San Giacomo.

He made his debut in 1962 in an exhibition at Fiamma Vigo's "Numero" gallery in Florence, and in the same year his work was noted by critics at the "Ministero Pubblica Istruzione" exhibition at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Rome. From 1963 to 1966 he resided in Norway, where he exhibited in public spaces and private galleries and where he met Ivo Pannaggi and formed a deep friendship with the futurist painter.

Back in Italy he began a research based on the surface of painting, going beyond it to bring out new and layered spaces. In 1967 he made his debut in Rome at Gaspero del Corso's L'Obelisco gallery, first in a group show and then with a solo exhibition. In May 1968, the Lugano-based magazine “Art International” published "Artists on their art" which included essays by artists including Fascetti. He states that he wanted to verify the validity of a new, concrete, and “transversal” space that would express not only his complex technical language but also the presence of an internal mental state. In his latest works, with a concise and seemingly elementary formal language, he narrates metaphors and emotional suggestions.