Massimo Bartolini

Massimo Bartolini, at D'Amelio Terras - no photos, there is no bother, they are not work that reproduces well; very large sheets of paper folded many times, then unfolded and presented flat, with the creases overlaid in colored pencil.

Two (or three?) of them are unfolded fantastical paper airplanes... these seem like evidence of something larger, a larger process. There is the imagined performance of folding the paper - walking around this big sheet of paper and making all the folds - followed by the resulting sculpture; a large, ungainly, totally unflyable paper airplane, laying heavy on the floor, ending with the unfolding of the airplane and tracing every single tiny crease with a colored pencil.

I like the persistance in the face of adversity stubborness of that final act... that, okay, there is no way this airplane is going to fly, but screw everyone, I'm not done with it. I like the formal and material elegance of the displayed piece, and the obstinate buffoonery of the process.

Sol Lewitt, at MoMA - at MoMA the same evening I saw a small (un)folded paper Lewitt, in the show Lines, Grids, Stains, Words. I'm just mentioning it here because it somewhat related, and I want to remember it.