{"id":2341,"date":"2021-05-24T10:17:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T10:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lorenzomariniarte.com\/?p=2341"},"modified":"2021-05-24T10:17:12","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T10:17:12","slug":"artillery-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lorenzomariniarte.com\/en\/critics\/artillery-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"ARTILLERY MAGAZINE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Peter Frank<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

ARTILLERY MAGAZINE<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLorenzo Marini\u2019s engagement with the letters of the modern Latin alphabet hovers between that of a graphic designer, that of a painter, that of a linguist, and that of a poet.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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In each of his paintings and sculptures Marini rhapsodizes on the visual, verbal, and (to a lesser extent) sonic properties of the 26 letters, treating their staves and curves as armatures for several levels of fantasy, fantasy which often courses far from its singlesymbol source but never loses sight of it. Marini\u2019s antecedents, clearly conjured in his soi-disant \u201cType Art,\u201d range from Medieval manuscript illumination to latter-day graffiti (Jean-Michel Basquiat\u2019s quavering ruminations find particular echo in the Italian artist\u2019s giddy phrases); from 1960s Pop art and supergraphics to the notational surrealism of Klee and Miro; from the word-collages of Poesia Visiva (a Franco-Italian visual-poetry movement) to the lit-up geometries of Memphis Milano. The success of Marini\u2019s typocentric artworks depends intellectually on this rich range of citation, but also on a literary use of language\u2014 English and Italian for the most part\u2014that befits the works\u2019 graphic effulgence. (On occasion, going on in torrents of <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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simile about the shapes of letters, Marini the writer approximates the evocative brilliance of his countryman Italo Calvino.)
Surprisingly, calligraphy does not figure, except incidentally, in such Type Art: Marini\u2019s approach, although painterly, is not gestural but is rooted in the form and function of the letters themselves. He regards his B\u2019s and N\u2019s and W\u2019s as stable, established personas, structurally self-contained, inspiring a universe of association around them. In this regard, Marini personalizes the alphabet and, in the evident joy he takes in doing so, encourages us to do the same. One of his single-letter Typevisuals or pan-letter Multitypes is not simply an entertainment for eye and mind but an invitation to elaborate in our own minds upon these no-longer-quotidian phonograms. Such generosity of spirit alone recommends Marini\u2019s Type Art, but his way with color and his irrepressible cleverness, both visual and verbal, also renders his work approachable and appealing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter Frank ARTILLERY MAGAZINE \u201cLorenzo Marini\u2019s engagement with the letters of the modern Latin alphabet hovers between that of a graphic designer, that of a painter, that of a linguist, and that of a poet. In each of his paintings and sculptures Marini rhapsodizes on the visual, verbal, and (to a lesser extent) sonic properties […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,52],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorenzomariniarte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorenzomariniarte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorenzomariniarte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorenzomariniarte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorenzomariniarte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lorenzomariniarte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorenzomariniarte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorenzomariniarte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorenzomariniarte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}