2022 saw solid growth for Mario Schifano’s art market: + 17,4%.
It is necessary to wait for the upcoming second auction semester to see whether in 2023 such a trend can be confirmed by the presence on the art market of comparable paintings - in terms of value, quality and price - to The Drawing Room from 1962 (Avantgardes October 20th 2022, Christie's, Paris, France: hammer price € 1.302.000) or Modern Time, again from 1962, (Modernities, October 25th 2022, Sotheby's, Paris, France, hammer price € 2.334.000).
Meanwhile two solo exhibitions about the artist - both curated by Alberto Salvadori - are going to be inaugurated in the coming weeks, respectively in the United States, at Magazzino Italian Art (a museum in the Hudson Valley hosting the Olnick-Spanu Collection, dedicated to postwar and contemporary Italian Art in the United States), and in Italy, at Gió Marconi Gallery in Milan.
In collaboration with Mario Schifano Archive, the exhibition at Magazzino Italian Art, Mario Schifano: The Rise of the 60s, will present a selection of 80 paintings produced between 1960 and 1970, including 12 works - never shown before -from the Maurizio Calvesi Foundation.
The exhibition Tutto at Gió Marconi Gallery will instead devote attention to the artist’s production on paper.
Whether translated on canvas or on paper, Schifano’s approach to life was empirical, frantic and unconventional, appropriating everything: music, signage, billboards, films, photography, futurism.
The strong communicative skills of his paintings, derived from the artist's attention to mass media and new technologies, and the ability to dig visually into the classical and simultaneously into the contemporary made Schifano's work so approachable and recognizable from the very beginning.
Some images are as follows:
Mario Schifano, Segnale giallo, 1961
Enamel on paper mounted on canvas, 31 1/2 x 39 3/8 in. (80 x 100 cm)
Olnick Spanu Collection, New York. Photo by Marco Anelli / Tommaso Sacconi
Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, NY
Mario Schifano, Particolare di propaganda, 1962
Enamel on paper mounted on canvas, 39 3/8 x 39 3/8 in. (100 x 100 cm)
Olnick Spanu Collection, New York. Photo by Dario Lasagni
Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, NY
Mario Schifano, Paesaggio Anemico I, 1964
Pencil and enamel on canvas, dyptich 86 5/8 x 78 3/4 in. (220 x 200cm)
Augusto and Agata Rossi Collection. Photo by Christie’s Limited Image
Mario Schifano, Futurismo rivisitato a colori, 1965
Enamel on canvas and Perspex, 68 7/8 x 118 1/8 in. (175 x 300 cm) (3 panels)
Private Collection
Mario Schifano, Grande oggetto paesaggio, 1965
Acrylic and enamel on three united canvas, 78 3/4 x 118 1/8 in. (200 x 300 cm)
Private Collection
Mario Schifano, Senza oggetto, 1966
Plexiglass, painted canvas under plexiglass. Overall: 82 11/16 x 39 3/8 in. (210 x 100 cm)
Olnick Spanu Collection, New York. Photo by Dario Lasagni
Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, NY
Mario Schifano, Tutto, 1963
Enamel, graphite and crayon on paper mounted on canvas, 111.5x96 cm
Private Collection
Courtesy Gió Marconi, Milano