A few years ago, I clipped this image from Reference Library, the always-surprising visual blog that rarely gives explanations. It said simply:
“Michelangelo Pistoletto Struttura per parlare in piedi (Oggetti in meno) 1965-66
This is just about my most favorite thing.”
In English, Pistoletto‘s artwork is called “Structure for Talking Standing Up”, part of a series he did called Minus Objects. In one photo, a man is standing by the structure, leaning on it lightly with one foot on rung, as though he were talking to someone over a fence.
I love it as an object, and its amazing concept. I also can’t help but imagine it as a table base, in a slightly shorter scale, say 30 inches high. If I could work wood or iron, I’d copy it and lay a flat slab of something beautiful on top – wood, stone or rusting steel – to make a gorgeous table. I might even hinge the corner so the base could fold. I think “I am a barbarian for envisioning Pistoletto’s work of art as a table base” and then think, “No…
… this is an example of how art can inspire the most mundane of things.”
Michelangelo Pistoletto’s website is full of amazing ideas.