While Alighiero Boetti is widely recognized for his collaborations
with others, conceptualizing and then commissioning them to execute his Arazzi, Mappe and Biro
series, from 1978 through his death in 1994 he was prolific within his
own studio, creating a vast trove of works on paper that explored a
multitude of ideas, processes and themes. These works on paper offer a
kaleidoscopic glimpse into the complex mind of the artist; they are at
once cryptic, witty, whimsical and cerebral, and always engaging.

Tra Sé e Sé (Prima e Quarta di Copertina),
1976-1979, is an enthralling work that incorporates collage, scrawled
texts, newspaper clippings and drawings of coded imagery, word play and
mathematical equations - some of the myriad practices Boetti employed
with his highly experimental works on paper. At either end of the sheet
there is an aerial view of a head and outstretched hands grasping a
pencil, resulting in a connective line running down the central axis of
the work, elucidating Boetti's fascination with dualities, twinning, and
the left and right brain relationship. Boetti's body of work is at
once highly conceptual and strikingly visual, his radical ideas and
elaborate endeavors making him one of the most influential and
fascinating artists of the 20th century.