- Exhibition curated by Francesca Pola
- Organised in cooperation with the Associazione Paolo Scheggi
- Featuring ca. 30 paintings by Paolo Scheggi
- First international exhibition of seminal environmental installation Intercamera Plastica


ROBILANT+VOENA are pleased to present the first solo exhibition of Paolo Scheggi in London organised with the Associazione Paolo Scheggi. Curated by Francesca Pola, the show will celebrate the work of Scheggi during the 1960s: the seminal and crucial creative decade prior to his death in 1971 at the tender age of 31.

Scheggi’s dazzling work developed in Postwar Milan, an effervescent and international artistic context, enriched by the crucial presence of Lucio Fontana, and of experimental artists from the new Italian generation: those around the Azimuth/Azimut gallery and magazine (such as Piero Manzoni, Enrico Castellani, Agostino Bonalumi, Dadamaino), and those connected to the “Arte programmata” (such as Gianni Colombo). With them, Scheggi’s work shares the desire to move beyond traditional painting into a new creative and perceptual dimension: objective, physical and spatial.

In 1962, after various threedimensional mixed media experimentations, Scheggi developed his Intersuperfici (Intersurfaces), also called Zone riflesse (Reflected Zones): canvases with cut-outs, superimposed, to create physically and optically complex spaces, aimed at investigating the dynamics of perception and involvement. In this spatial vision, his work is also characterised by a wide interdisciplinary approach, intertwining his pictorial investigation with architecture, fashion, poetry, performance, and philosophy.

The exhibition will bring together pivotal examples of Scheggi’s work on the spatial investigation of surface: from the early metal assemblages of his Lamiere, to the mature complex constructions of his Intersuperfici and Interena- cubi. A selection of over thirty of his paintings, including some unpublished and never before exhibited canvases from Italian private collections, will be the core of the exhibition, and will reaffirm the role played by Scheggi in the development of Modern Art in Italy.

The highlight of the exhibition will be an installation entitled Intercamera plastica (Plastic Interchamber) which was first shown at Milan’s Naviglio Gallery in January 1967. It was reconstructed in 2007 and donated in 2013 to the Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato by Franca and Cosima Scheggi. Kindly lent by the Museum, the Intercamera plastica is the most important environmental piece devised by Scheggi. Arguably the apex of Scheggi’s spatial interrogation, Intercamera plastica is a large yellow space, measuring approximately five by four metres, surrounded by curved perforated walls. The holes carved into the walls are perfectly circular and uniformly superimposed, embodying Scheggi’s fascination with structural forms. This is the first time this seminal work has been exhibited outside Italy.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a 200 page book edited by Francesca Pola and published by Skira. Based on extensive studies of Scheggi’s work, with over 170 images of paintings and documents, it will include a selection of his writings from the period and an iconographic mapping of selected works in museums around the world.

We wish to thank Luca Massimo Barbero, President of the Scientific Committee of the Associazione Paolo Scheggi and editor of the upcoming Catalogue Raisonné of the artist’s work, the Associazione Paolo Scheggi and Franca and Cosima Scheggi, whose contribution has been fundamental to the creation of the exhibition.