Inept Rhapsody (infinite)

Rapsodie inepte (Infinito), or “inept rhapsody”, is the ambiguous title of Pier Paolo Calzolari’s three-metre-wide wall sculpture, formed as an infinity symbol covered with brown tobacco leaves and the word rapsodieinepte written in bright neon letters. In ancient Greece, rhapsodies referred to snatches of larger poems. Calzolari’s work refers to the same dualism: it is delicate and fragmentary, even as its single, sweeping line alludes to an unfathomable endlessness. It is unclear what this rhapsody symbolizes. Is it the limited ability of art to capture what is real and essential? Or does the work represent how human beings are fated to interpreting the world through inadequate fragments?

Even though Calzolari uses materials from everyday life, he combines them in ways that suggest that we are facing something larger, whether it is a philosophical question or a spiritual experience. A member of the arte povera movement from 1968, Calzolari stands out from this group in that his works, despite their eccentric material combinations, often hint at something archaic and melancholic. One of several recurring motifs in his art is ice and icing, as seen in the second piece by Calzolari in the museum’s collection. Senza titolo (1990) is a monochromatic “painting” where the enigmatic white hue stems not from paint but from frost from a cooling unit. According to the artist, this is an attempt to recreate the “pure whiteness” of sunlight falling on marble.