Lot 34: m - MARINELLIA PIRELLI

PROPERTY FROM THE MARINELLIA PIRELLI COLLECTION, VARESE

B. 1925
METEORA N. 13 - IN CADUTA

measurements
96.5 by 96 by 24cm.

alternate measurements
38 by 37 3/4 by 9 1/2 in.

aluminium, perspex acrylic sheet, electric motor, bulb light

Executed in 1969-71.

EXHIBITED

Biumo Superiore, Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza di Biumo, Marinellia Pirelli: Ombra luce, 2003, p. 18, illustrated in colour
Sao Paulo, Museu da Arte Moderna, Marinellia Pirelli, 2003
Milan, Museo della Permanente, Autoritratto di Marinellia Pirelli, 2004

NOTE

"For me the light is life... The light transforms, modifies things and modifies itself through objects..." (the artist cited in: Erika Rosa, La luce di Marinellia Pirelli risplende a Villa Panza, Varese News, 20 June 2001)

Created at a time which witnessed Pirelli's artistic practice move from figurative painting to the devotion to and exploration of light, colour and movement that would dominate the rest of her career, Meteore (Meteors) is a powerful, innovative work of art. It documents Pirelli's newly-found belief that the perception of light and movement is what grants a work of art life and autonomy, a realisation that came to her by observing dew drops on a flower petal.



Just as in her contemporaneous masterpiece Ambiente di Luce, Pirelli uses modern technology to play with space and light. Meteore was created using mechanical-electical devices that transmit bright light sources through superimposed layers of methacrylate. The result is full of optical surprise, a fluctuating vision of forms and colours, that still retains a purity, reminiscent of a celestial body suspended in light. It is an object that is remarkably ahead of its time -- strongly anticipating the work of James Turrell and Anish Kapoor. In its exploration of light, its suggestive vision and in its simple beauty Meteore is a jewel-like sculpture that takes the viewer on a glorious journey of space and light.