Author Description

The artists of the Italian Arte Povera movement took as their common goals the use of simple, humble materials; an appreciation of the processes of daily life; and the blurring of the boundaries between art and nature. Giuseppe Penone, the youngest member of the group, which began in the 60s, explores these principles primarily through the act of drawing. Penone's poetic and indexical approach to this simple act finds him extending his fingerprint through hundreds of lines painstakingly handrawn in concentric rings, millimeter by millimeter. Or enlarging the lines of his forehead and eyelids in related gestures and techniques. The Imprint of Drawing examines large- and small-scale works created over the past 25 years, accompanied by essays and an interview with the artist by The Drawing Center Director Catherine de Zegher.