ART CITIES:Paris-Niele Toroni

Echoing Italian poet and novelist Cesare Pavese’s idea that the only joy in the world is to begin, Niele’s Toroni work repeats itself in an eternal recommencement. Thus what may appear as a monolithic entity is actually a multitude of infinite variations. When confronted with the question of why continue to repeat his imprints, Toroni invariably responds: “You can look at the ocean everyday, but it is never the same sea”.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Galerie Marian Goodman Gallery

In his exhibition entitled “En passant”, Niele Toroni presents new paintings on canvas, oil cloth and paper as well as two site-specific interventions at Galerie Marian Goodman. Born in 1937 in Muralto, Switzerland , Niele Toroni studied at the École Normale to become a teacher, before deciding, in 1959to come to Paris to “do painting”. He has lived there ever since. Niele Toroni belongs to the first generation of European Minimalist painters active since the ‘60s. His practice aims to “Affirm the existence of painting as such”. His working method, sometimes considered radical, is as famous as it is unvarying: since 1967, he has been applying, on every type of surface, imprints of a no. 50 paintbrush at regular intervals of 30 cm. While there is no privileged color, the imprints in any given work are monochrome, and thus no “work/painting” is “Ever alike, just as no imprint of a no. 50 paintbrush is ever alike”. Niele Toroni, who does not think of himself as an artist but as a painter, declares that his work comes into view, and must be absorbed “with a single glance”. He thus rejects all forms of subjectivity, the imprints of no. 50 paintbrush convey no message or mood, they tell no story. “I do not visualize ideas: I apply a paintbrush, the imprints of the paintbrush become visible, and this (the work/painting) may be generative of new ideas”. The critical dimension of his work explores the meaning of pictorial activity, but, in contrast to the Minimalist or Conceptual approach, the gesture is essential. Therefore, although he does not sign his name on the material he uses, in over 40 years Niele Toroni has never delegated the task of creating imprints to an assistant.

Info: Galerie Marian Goodman, 79 Rue Du Temple, Paris, Duration: 5/3-16/4/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00,  http://mariangoodman.com