Casey Kaplan is pleased to present a selection of works on paper by Giorgio Griffa (b. 1936, Turin, Italy), produced between 1968 and 1979, in both our physical and online viewing rooms.
![]()
Installation view, Giorgio Griffa, 1960s and 1970s Works on Paper, Casey Kaplan, New York (2021)
During the 1960s and 1970s, Giorgio Griffa developed an acute visual language that would serve as the foundation for his decades long practice. Horizontal, vertical and oblique lines stretch across the page or canvas, seeping into the material upon application. These repeated marks often cling to the margins, as if restrained by the surrounding negative space, while others fluidly trail across muted foundations. These hand-painted lines vary in thickness, dependent on the size of the brush itself, though each share a sense of remaining unfinished, breaking off mid-stroke or before the paper’s edge. Like apostrophes, each gesture signifies a singular act within a continuous conversation.
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Paper, 1968
Tempera on paper
26.6 x 18.7” / 67.56 x 47.5cm
Framed: 31.25 x 23” / 79.38 x 58.42cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Paper, 1968 (alternate view)
![]()
Installation view, Giorgio Griffa, 1960s and 1970s Works on Paper, Casey Kaplan, New York (2021)
Griffa approaches painting like a meditation of sorts, reducing his markings to a repetitive sequence of lines and gestures dictated by material. The performance of painting is captured as an act in motion, in which line is embraced as the subject, and the artist’s self-expression is suppressed in service of his tools. In Griffa’s own words, “I realized that it was necessary to cool down the emotional relationship between painter and painting, and that helped me to realize that painting has its own identity which is not just the projection of the individual. I realized that I needed to forget myself.”
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Drawing, 1972
Watercolor on paper
12.2 x 18.1” / 31 x 46cm
Framed: 16.25 x 22.25” / 41.28 x 56.52cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Drawing, 1972 (alternate view)
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Drawing, 1973
Watercolor on paper
18.1 x 24.2” / 46 x 61.47cm
Framed: 22 x 28.5” / 55.88 x 72.39cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Drawing, 1973 (detail)
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Paper, 1968
Watercolor and pencil on paper
26.4 x 18.7” / 67.06 x 47.5cm
Framed: 31 x 23.13 / 78.74 x 58.74cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Paper, 1968 (alternate view)
![]()
Installation view, Giorgio Griffa, 1960s and 1970s Works on Paper, Casey Kaplan, New York (2021)
This self-referential nature of the work is balanced with Griffa’s desire to grasp at the unknown. His later works and writings often reference the Golden Ratio, an irrational number that trails off to infinity, evading capture or complete understanding. Color, line, and form commingle with the artist himself. In unison, gestures repeat and recall the same moment in time and yet no moment at all. In tandem with this notion, Griffa's work has been positioned akin to the Arte Povera movement, as well as American Post-Minimalism, though Griffa has never been fully indoctrinated into either, uniquely maintaining remarkable autonomy in his artistic practice.
![]()
Giorgio Griffa,
Drawing, 1973
Watercolor on paper
11 x 10.9" / 27.94 x 27.67cm
Framed: 15.25 x 15.25" / 38.74 x 38.74cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Drawing, 1973 (detail)
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Drawing, 1972
Watercolor on paper
27.5 x 19.6" / 69.85 x 49.78cm
Framed: 31.75 x 23.75" / 80.65 x 60.33cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Drawing, 1972 (detail)
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Untitled, 1978
Watercolor on paper
9.8 x 13" / 24.9 x 33.02cm
Framed: 14.4 x 16.4" / 36.58 x 41.66cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Untitled, 1978 (alternate view)
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Paper, 1968
India ink on paper
20.1 x 28.3" / 51.05 x 71.88cm
Framed: 24.5 x 32.5" / 62.23 x 82.55cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Paper, 1968 (alternate view)
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Drawing, 1972
Watercolor on paper
12.2 x 18.1" / 31 x 46cm
Framed: 16.25 x 22.25" / 41.3 x 56.52cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Drawing, 1972 (detail)
The ink, graphite, and watercolor-based works on paper on view, many of which were included in Giorgio Griffa: Works on Paper at the Fondazione Giuliani per l’arte contemporanea, Rome in 2016, explore the repetition of gesture on an intimate scale. Though typically associated as preparatory material for larger-scaled works, Griffa has positioned his drawings non-hierarchically, in parallel to his paintings.
![]()
Installation view, Giorgio Griffa, 1960s and 1970s Works on Paper, Casey Kaplan, New York (2021)
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Paper, 1969
India ink and watercolor on paper
26.6 x 18.7" / 67.56 x 47.5cm
Framed: 31.25 x 23" / 79.38 x 58.42cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Paper, 1969 (detail)
![]()
Installation view, Giorgio Griffa, 1960s and 1970s Works on Paper, Casey Kaplan, New York (2021)
In Drawing (1972), muted horizontal lines of deep red pigment form a vertical column along the left margin, halting two-thirds of the way down the page. In Untitled (1979), a golden gradient of seven vertical lines stretch from top to bottom, breaking off before reaching the paper’s edge. The colored pigments in the watercolors often pull towards the end of the stroke, as if gaining momentum in anticipation of their inevitable interruption. In Griffa’s own words, “The other aspect [of my work] is the constant non-finished…avoiding the final point of closure that suddenly puts the work into the past.” In this way, Griffa’s work is ever-present, suspending both space and time in service of recording the act of painting itself.
![]()
Installation view, Giorgio Griffa, 1960s and 1970s Works on Paper, Casey Kaplan, New York (2021)
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Untitled, 1979
Watercolor on paper
9.4 x 12.6" / 23.88 x 32cm
Framed: 14 x 16" / 35.56 x 40.64cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Untitled, 1979 (detail)
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Untitled, 1979
Watercolor on paper
9.6 x 12.6" / 24.38 x 32cm
Framed: 14 x 16" / 35.56 x 40.64cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Untitled, 1979 (alternate view)
![]()
Giorgio Griffa
Untitled, 1978
Watercolor on paper
9.8 x 13" / 24.9 x 33.02cm
Framed: 14.4 x 16.4" / 36.58 x 41.66cm
![]()
Giorgio Griffa, Untitled, 1978 (alternate view)
