This week, instead of being zapped with a laser, I have been blasted with tiny crystal particles, then pricked with a tiny needle. The glycolic acid has remained the same. I’d be sceptical about all this, except that my skin no longer resembles that of a toad, as it did back in October. Though it was never green, I don’t think.
Since the de-toading happens in London, I also went to Camden Arts Centre and saw the exhibition they have on at the moment: ‘…a multitude of soap bubbles which explode from time to time…’: Pino Pascali’s final works 1967-1968.
I wondered, not for the first time, where my work is in relation to Arte Povera – I have similar ideas in terms of choice of materials, but my work looks quite unlike what is generally thought of as Arte Povera. I wondered about this previously when Sam Smith talked about the influence of Arte Povera on his work, during his presentation last term – I felt there were many parallels in our attitudes to artistic practice, and we were both reading The Savage Mind by Levi-Strauss. But our work looks very different, and his is undoubtedly closer to Arte Povera.
So anyway, I bought a book about the movement, which seems to mainly focus on its origins in Italy. I’ve read about 3 pages so far.
