Perché non se ne parli più. 1958.
Mixed media with oil, lacquer and ink on canvas, partly scratched.
Signed and dated lower center. Once more signed and titled on verso. 30 x 25 cm (11,8 x 9,8 in).

Gastone Novelli had to face death when he was a young man. As member of the resistance against the fascist regime he was arrested, tortured and sentenced to death in 1943. However, the sentence was not executed and he was liberated in 1944. After he had received a doctor’s degree in politics and social science he began painting in 1947. Influenced by Max Bill and Enrico Prampolino, the artist turned to a neo-concrete style in the 1950s. Another contemporary was Achille Perelli, with whom he was in a close friendship as of 1950. His eagerness to experiment led Novelli from geometrical abstraction to an informal vocabulary. In 1958, the year this strong work was made, the Galleria Nazionale d´Arte Moderna showed a retrospective of Jackson Pollock. One year earlier Cy Twombly had chosen Rome as his place of residence. The occupation with the work of the two artists can be observed in his usage of Drippings. Delicate streaks dripped over thick color layers and written words. However, in Novelli‘s informal style elements are densified to a new unity. Layers of paint lying upon another, irregularly scratched, broken by writing and visible parts of the canvas, create a poetic impression. [AKF].