On Nicola Samorì’s dis-figurations. The Role of Materiality in Contemporary Artistic Practice

Abstract

Direct engagement with the theoretical problems of painting characterizes contemporary art. As Louis Marin (1986) points out, the idea of “artistic practice” and its emphasis on thinking about the difference between the material support and the painted surface of the work is central to contemporary art. This type of investigation deserves to be linked to reflections on the “factual power” of the materials used in contemporary art (Magli 2003) and on the enunciative role of the artist’s gestural expressiveness in the production of the artwork (Damisch 1981; Corrain 2016). This paper will focus on the work of Nicola Samorì and the material dimension of his artistic practice. It will reflect on the status of the visual material as a generative element of representation and on the relationship between the manipulative power of the materials and tools used by the artist. Taking into account Barthes’ doctrine (1982) of a not yet written history of the tools and materials of art, I will question Samorì’s work, starting from the way these works of art are realised, with the attempt to show the various sensitive relationships that can arise between surfaces, materials and the gestures of the artist.