Canone aureo (finale 820), 2012

On the basis of his work’s elemental style, it can be said that “Giorgio Griffa’s paintings deal with painting,” indicating with a tautology the essence of an artistic investigation that has continued consistently for almost fifty years. Having grown up amid the cultural climate of Turin in the 1960s, Griffa shared with other artists a reaction to Art Informel and the need to “cool down” its temperature, shifting attention to the very elements of paintings. In his first exhibition, held at the Galleria Martano in Turin in April 1968, Griffa’s work already stood out for its abstract sign, executed in monochrome or even achrome colors, when reduced to white, applied to raw canvas. [...]