Giuseppe Chiari (1926-2007)
I was working on my book on Fluxus and I asked him for some documentation. In 1981 I invited him for the Fluxus Festival that Peter van Beveren and I were organising in the AKI, the art academy of Enschede. One of his finest works consisted of him crumpling and tearing into pieces a sheet of paper at an excruciatingly slow pace. This composition lasted for twenty minutes; I remember it agitated numerous visitors.
Chiari once proposed to make an exhibition in my gallery with a collection of works he described as bric-à-brac.
I doubt this was a serious offer. Whenever I ordered something from the artist he sent me something completely different. Or he sent nothing at all. But he also sent me things I never asked for. Such as a packet of signed artist books, or an envelope with photo’s and printed matter. Once I received an envelope with two gouaches. Despite my inquiries he never told me the value of these works.
The exhibition never took place.
(22.08.20)
