Adriano Altamira. Vecchie e nuove aree di coincidenza

Although Adriano Altamira has faced different themes, from the photographs ofVisti per caso, to the drawings of Conceptual Rigoletta, (exhibition which has just concluded at Marconi Foundation, Milan); the artist cyclically resumes to consider the most renowned nucleus of his production again: Area di Coincidenza. 
After the anthology which took place in 2002, Altamira has not limited himself to reorganize part of the archive material from his research, but additionally he has concluded some incomplete artworks and old projects which were just mere intention, also carrying out some new works which have never been exhibited before. 
The solo show at Studio G7 gallery represents the opportunity to explore the results of the research that the artist has been implementing since 1972.
Area di Coincidenza is a study based on the frequency with which some cultural constants and/or iconographies are presented again, within the work of various authors, and eventually converge to identical or at least similar solutions, even if the same artists do not know each other. 
In some cases it happens what we can call simultaneous invention/invenzione simultanea (basically it comes out when at the same time identical artworks come out from different artists who do not know each other), in other instances, when similar artworks arise in the space of a few years within the same environment, it can be assumed that from a melting pot of common culture there is the inevitable convergence to comparable results, despite the evidence that each author considers the new-born idea totally unique and original. This is also found in the case of “remakes”, “tributes” or “d’apres” when the authors cite some famous works from other artists by adding one little “expedient” which results to be always the same. Since each of the Area di Coincidenza sequence is virtually endless, there would be some artworks which have been seen during their evolution, meaning when the artist specifies the development of the series itself, or updates or even complete it. 
 
Adriano Altamira (Milan, 1947), after the degree in Art History, starts a double career both as art critic and artist simultaneously. He writes on several magazines including NAC, Flash Art, Le Artiand Studio G7 for which he became the director for a few years, and successively he writes for Artistes, Tema Celeste, FMR, among others. In the Eighties and at the beginning of the Nineties he cooperates with Giornale Nuovo for the art pages, then with Corriere della Sera. From an early age, he met Vincenzo Agnetti, then he becomes a frequent visitor of both Luciano Fabro and the artists close to him but he also met Franco Vaccari and other artists related to the world of photography.
As an artist, he started with the photographic research Area di Coincidenza (1971-80, then after the Nineties), which is recognized by several art critics (Filiberto Menna, Renato Barilli, Flavio Caroli, Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, Michel Baudson, Udo Kultermann and Flaminio Gualdoni) as one of the most significative research of the Conceptual era. Subsequently, he also studies some aspects related to the unconscious within his research on both Dreams (Ice Dreams, 1980-1992) and Faith (‘90s and first anni ’90 and early 2000s). As an artist Altamira has held around fifty solo show in Italy and abroad, he has participated to important group exhibition as Linee dell’arte in Italia ’60-’77 at Gam, Turin (on the invitation of Filiberto Menna), Venice Biennale, 1980 (Cronografie curated by Gianfranco Bettetini), Nuova Immagine at Triennale di Milano (curated by Flavio Caroli), Cosa fanno oggi i concettuali, 1986, at Rotonda della Besana (curated by Renato Barilli), Quadriennale di Roma, 2005, on the invitation of Luciano Caramel. 
In 2012, he was invited at the exhibition Addio anni ’70 curated by Francesco Bonami and the year after to the show Wunderkammer at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum and at Gallerie d’Italia, curated by Martina Mazzotta. His latest artworks have been exhibited at Marconi Foundation in 2008, 2010 and 2014.
Among his most famous publications we can mention the book dedicated to Contemporary Art of the Bompiani handbook Arte nel Tempo (1991 and next ed.), Il secolo sconosciuto (1997), Rossella Bigi editor, another relevant essay about twentieth century Art; Area di Coincidenza (2001, Nuovi Strumenti ed.), critic re-edition of the essay of the same name composed in 1980, Miti romantici – Simboli e inconscio dell’era industriale (2004, Vita e Pensiero ed.), and La vera Storia della fotografia concettuale (2007 Area Imaginged.). 
His last publication is Conceptual Rigoletta (2018), a novel through images edited byCorraini Edizioni. The solo show, with the same title “Conceptual Rigoletta” will open on Friday 18 May at Corraini Gallery, Mantova, and it will be on view until 20 June. 
In 1978, Studio G7 Gallery organized Adriano Altamira’s first solo show followed by:Adriano Altamira & Hidetoshi Nagasawa, 1987; Fotografie anni ’70 e ’80, 2010.
 
 
 

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