Burri e Pistoia

occasion of the exhibition at Palm Springs, Bacchi and me in 1985, two years
later Tiziano and his wife. He wanted to share with his friends the natural
beauties of the Grand Canyon, Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, the Yosemite
Valley, etc... His dream was for us to make, all together, the journey from coast
to coast but we were prevented from doing so by the deterioration in his health.
Did you go to see him in the United States?
AA: I went to Los Angeles for just two or three days. I’d been in New
York and Washington for work and had brought my whole family with
me, so I decided to make the trip to see Burri too: we sprang it on him
as a surprise and he was delighted.
CS: For Burri 1978 was the year of the major retrospective at the Solomon
Guggenheim Museum in New York. On his return from the adventure in the Big
Apple you accompanied my father from the airport to the expressway exit for
Arezzo, where I was waiting: it was the first time I met you!
AA: Those were ten wonderful days. Burri had organized a flight to
bring all his closest friends: among them were his favorite “niece”
Anita Bucchi [daughter of Annibale Bucchi, the cousin of Burri’s mother,
editor’s note], your father, Jack the Spark and his wife. There were
thirty-five of us, all his guests and staying at the same hotel. He was
special, the best not just from the artistic viewpoint, but from the human
one too. He left us by ourselves only when he had personal commitments
that concerned specific aspects of his work, which he always
regarded as a drag, partly because he had to put on a necktie! He took
us to see most of the museums in New York. On one of these visits,
with your father and Jack the Spark, we had great fun. I was the youngest
and you know how I like to raise hell. We started looking at the
pictures, saying: “Beautiful this work, it’d look great at home!” We
went up close, perhaps a bit too close, pretending to take measurements.
The guard in the room called security in and, while we were
all splitting our sides with laughter, Burri had to explain who he was,
and that we were his friends and not would-be thieves. Then he said:
bellissimo, il nostro gruppo arrivò un po’ prima. Il museo era ancora
deserto e io ne approfittai per fotografarvi il Maestro da solo, anche per
rendere la dimensione dello spazio.
CS: Il Guggenheim ha un’architettura molto complessa, soprattutto per le pareti
curvilinee, dove non è facile appendere quadri. Hai trovato difficoltà nel
rendere il rapporto spazio-opere, così importante per Burri?
AA: Fotografai anche le varie sezioni ma, in realtà, si trattò di un reportage:
il mio intento era quello di riprendere Burri, a sua insaputa, mentre
parlava con tutte le persone che lo assediavano, sai che non amava
mettersi in posa!
CS: Immagino che la mostra sia stata allestita secondo precise direttive di
Burri, che sapeva sempre ciò che voleva e non ammetteva interferenze.
AA: Devo dire che si confrontava sempre con Nemo, lo ascoltava molto:
d’altronde, c’era fra loro un’intesa formidabile che si percepiva nell’aria.
“Nel 1979, Erich Steingräber chiede a Burri una mostra per lo Staatsgalerie
Moderner Kunst di Monaco. Burri, dopo aver visionato lo spazio, crea il suo
primo ciclo, “Il Viaggio” nel “capannone studio.
Amendola fotografa l’artista mentre, arrampicato su un trabattello, sta lavorando
sulla parte alta delle opere e mentre fa la combustione. Le foto dall’alto
dell’intero capannone sono molto efficaci nel rendere evidente il rapporto spazio-opere.
Il Maestro, a sorpresa, decide di mostrare”Il Viaggio” in quel luogo, prima di
inviarlo a Monaco. Per l’occasione realizza un pieghevole con la presentazione
di Nemo. Questa esperienza lo convince che quello è lo spazio ideale per esporre
le sue opere di grandi dimensioni. Nel 1989 acquista l’intero complesso architettonico
che poi è diventato la seconda sede della Fondazione Burri”.
CS: A proposito della sua passione per il calcio, i giocatori del Perugia parteciparono
a quella “pre-inaugurazione”, c’eri anche tu?
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