Press release
Sol LeWitt
Emblemata
10.06 – 20.07.2025
Giorgio Persano pays tribute to Sol LeWitt with a series of works on paper, presented in memory of the 1990 wall painting exhibition held at the historic location of the gallery in Piazza Vittorio Veneto.
Starting in the 1980s – following an extended stay in Italy – LeWitt began to systematically employ the gouache technique, a medium that allowed him to experiment with saturated colors and greater formal spontaneity, resulting in freer and more organic compositions. The gouaches on display clearly represent this turning point, presenting recurring motifs and a controlled tension between order and improvisation. While still maintaining a methodical structure, LeWitt introduced elements of unpredictability into the execution, giving the painterly gesture a significant role in the compositional process.
From these works emerged EMBLEMATA, an artist’s book consisting of 15 monotypes produced in 90 numbered copies, each signed by Sol LeWitt for Edizioni Essegi, Ravenna, in July 2000. The rich colors, applied with a roller to an engraved linoleum matrix, were then worked with a brush before printing, following the artist’s direct instructions. Each sheet, though based on the same subject, is unique: the color may vary in quantity, position, or presence, making each copy a work unto itself.
Sol LeWitt personally oversaw every phase of the project, working closely with printers, but without including any critical or textual content in the volume, aside from the colophon and the title. Even the lettering on the spine of the brown cardboard container was designed by him, emphasizing the intent of a completely autonomous work that reflected only his personal vision. “This is entirely my own thinking, with no external input,” he would say.
Even the numbering reflects this uniqueness: the copies are simply marked with sequential numbers from 1 to 70 (and I to XX for the copies reserved for the artist), without the traditional “1/70” fraction, to highlight that each copy has its own identity.
Sol LeWitt (1928, Hartford, U.S.A. – 2007, New York, U.S.A.) was one of the key figures of international conceptual art, alongside artists like Weiner, Barry, Andre, and Kosuth. He has been the subject of hundreds of solo exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world since 1965. His works are featured in major museums worldwide, including MoMA and Guggenheim in New York, Tate Modern in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.