Giovanni Anselmo was one of the founders of Arte Povera ("poor art"), a movement that emerged in Italy in the mid-1960s. These artists sought to make art in which the object was inseparable from the creative process, and which employed nontraditional materials such as found objects, plants, and other organic substances.

In Direzione, a compass is embedded in a granite wedge, evoking the properties of gravity and magnetism, both of which help orient us in the physical world. When exhibited, the triangular stone points north, a direction derived from the natural laws of the universe. Thus the work seems to continue beyond the bounds of the visible.


Text Citation

Label text for Giovanni Anselmo, Direzione (Direction) (1967-1970), from the exhibition Selections from the Permanent Collection, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, December 8, 1996 to April 4, 1999.

Object Details

Dimensions:  installed 6.25 x 70.25 x 27.5 inches Inscriptions:  N.A.; N.A. Printer:  N.A. Publisher:  N.A. Classification:  Sculptures; Sculpture Physical Description:  arrow-shaped granite with small compass set in top; sculpture should be installed to point norh Owner:  Walker Art Center Accession Number:  1996.130.1-.4 Credit Line:  The Frederick R. Weisman Collection of Art and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 1996