Alighiero Boetti Italian, 1940-1994
Aerei, 1989
Ink on photo paper laid down on canvas
3 parts, 147 x 99.7 cm. (57 7/8 x 39 1/4 in.) each / 147 x 299.1 cm. (57 7/8 x 117 3/4 in.) total
Copyright The Artist
Alighiero Boetti’s monumental triptych, Aerei, stands as a pinnacle of his seminal Aerei series, produced between 1977 and 1991, showcasing the artist’s evolved craftsmanship and his ability to fuse visual...
Alighiero Boetti’s monumental triptych, Aerei, stands as a pinnacle of his seminal Aerei series, produced between 1977 and 1991, showcasing the artist’s evolved craftsmanship and his ability to fuse visual harmony with profound philosophical insight. Executed in 1989, Aerei is one of the last works produced in this iconic series. Intricately detailed aeroplanes soar freely across the canvas, defying scale and hierarchy as they extend beyond its edges into an infinite sky painted in rich, shifting washes of brilliant azure ink. This composition simultaneously evokes chaos and masterful orchestration, embodying a dichotomy that lies at the heart of Boetti's oeuvre.
Boetti held a lifelong fascination with aircraft imagery, often creating transfer drawings of their outlines whenever he encountered aeroplane images in newspapers. This manifested in his collaborative work with Italian architect Guido Fuga in 1977 to create a large-scale triptych featuring a myriad of meticulously outlined aeroplanes of various designs, scales, and flight directions against a blue watercolour sky. This initial work captivated Boetti so profoundly that he photographed it and reproduced it in multiple sizes, with assistants meticulously filling in the surrounding areas using ballpoint pen, ink, and watercolour. This resulted in a diverse body of work where each piece maintained identical composition while exploring endless possibilities through scale variations and diverse colour applications.
The Aerei series embodies Boetti's exploration of “Ordine e Disordine” (“Order and Disorder”) and “Di Mezza di Mettere al Mondo il Mondo” (“To bring the World into the World”), showcasing an improbable harmony among fighter jets, passenger planes, Concorde, cargo craft, two-seater jets, and early propeller engines traversing boundless skies. This uncanny panorama allowed the artist to obsessively classify an array of aircraft while subtly critiquing geopolitical tensions between the USSR and the United States. Created in the post-Cold War era, Aerei distinctly reflects Boetti's acute geopolitical awareness, embodying his desire to transcend superficial geopolitical, ideological and cultural divisions. In an imagined realm of motion and dynamism, Aerei simultaneously emanates the playful spirit and exuberant delight characteristic of Boetti’s distinctive conceptual approach.
Boetti held a lifelong fascination with aircraft imagery, often creating transfer drawings of their outlines whenever he encountered aeroplane images in newspapers. This manifested in his collaborative work with Italian architect Guido Fuga in 1977 to create a large-scale triptych featuring a myriad of meticulously outlined aeroplanes of various designs, scales, and flight directions against a blue watercolour sky. This initial work captivated Boetti so profoundly that he photographed it and reproduced it in multiple sizes, with assistants meticulously filling in the surrounding areas using ballpoint pen, ink, and watercolour. This resulted in a diverse body of work where each piece maintained identical composition while exploring endless possibilities through scale variations and diverse colour applications.
The Aerei series embodies Boetti's exploration of “Ordine e Disordine” (“Order and Disorder”) and “Di Mezza di Mettere al Mondo il Mondo” (“To bring the World into the World”), showcasing an improbable harmony among fighter jets, passenger planes, Concorde, cargo craft, two-seater jets, and early propeller engines traversing boundless skies. This uncanny panorama allowed the artist to obsessively classify an array of aircraft while subtly critiquing geopolitical tensions between the USSR and the United States. Created in the post-Cold War era, Aerei distinctly reflects Boetti's acute geopolitical awareness, embodying his desire to transcend superficial geopolitical, ideological and cultural divisions. In an imagined realm of motion and dynamism, Aerei simultaneously emanates the playful spirit and exuberant delight characteristic of Boetti’s distinctive conceptual approach.