In the aftermath of the devastating events, horror, and destruction of World War II, European art underwent a period of profound upheaval and radical renewal in the 1950s and 1960s. Modernism, which had been “lost” during the war years, had to be revived and outdated attitudes had to be overcome: Lucio Fontana began slashing his canvases, Alberto Burri created relief-like material pictures from wood and iron, Piero Manzoni sewed his “Achromes,” Pierre Soulages explores black, Yves Klein elevates monochrome to art, Arnulf Rainer begins his “Übermalungen” (overpaintings), Otto Piene uses fire and smoke, Gerhard Richter paints ‘blurred’ pictures, and Piero Dorazio creates the first grid structures in 1959.
Like “Soffitto,” these works reflect their own creative process: they reveal layers of countless colored lines, carefully arranged in parallel, which occupy and organize the entire pictorial surface like a membrane, intersecting, overlapping, and ultimately forming a vibrant network structure that appears to be woven from color and light. Dorazio strives for order and structure, but not uniformity. His monochromaticity is merely hinted at and negates itself when viewed more closely. Instead, the interplay of light, color, and close-meshed structure evokes a palpable liveliness and dynamism, even a poetic quality. The viewer is confronted with an abundance of visual signals, so that the eye no longer perceives the individual details, but only the overall effect and energy.

Color, light, structure, and vibration became key elements of his artistic work, components that were also found in the most important international artistic positions of the time. In terms of style, however, Piero Dorazio's works are difficult to categorize. In the mid-1940s, he created his first abstract works. Yet, in the 1950s, he established an entirely new, absolutely unique, and radical visual language that brought him into the cultural centers and major venues of international postwar art, ultimately distinguishing him as one of the most significant representatives of European Abstract Art after World War II. In 1959, the artist participated in the second documenta, and in 1960, he had his own space at the 30th Venice Biennale. That same year, he was appointed to the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he would teach regularly for the next ten years— at the height of American Postwar Modernism. In 1961, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf presented a comprehensive solo exhibition, which was of great significance for his artistic career. Dorazio also contributed to the third “ZERO” publication, edited by Otto Piene and Heinz Mack. In 1965, his work was featured in the revolutionary exhibition “The Responsive Eye” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the following year, he had his second solo show at the Venice Biennale. [CH]