ROBERTO MATTA – ALAIN JOUFFROY

The exhibition Roberto Matta - Les Terres highlights a series of artworks created using naturally pigmented soils on hessian canvases. Described by Marcel Duchamp as “the most profound painter of his generation”, Roberto Matta was a major artist of the 20th century. Matta’s unique painting style identified in ‘Les Terres’, was heavily inspired by his insatiable curiosity for travel and exploration of the world. It was during a journey to Mexico with Robert Motherwell and Ann Clark in 1941, that he was awakened by the “terrifying power of earth’s soil.” From this point onwards, the earth became an essential element of Roberto Matta’s artistic language. Created between the 1950s and 1970s, the series not only reflects Matta’s explorations and origins, but also his ideological and philosophical principles. To Matta, art had lost its intrinsic meaning and had become used only for decorative purposes. In turn, he decided to re-instill a sense of moral obligation and political meaning back into the discipline. In his attempt to reawaken a collective consciousness and initiate a movement of change, Roberto Matta replaced “industrial paint” with the earth’s soil – a natural and primary material – as an act of resistance.