Bernard Aubertin (1934-2015) - Monocromo Rosso

1959 is a key year for Bernard Aubertin: he fully defines his poetics of the “Rouge Total” and begins to experiment with matter on the surface, creating monochromes no longer just flat but modulated by variations in density, reliefs, and waves.

He often used supports other than canvas, including wooden boards, often reclaimed. In some cases, as in this one, he used marine woods or from nautical carpentry, which he preferred for the consistency it could imprint on the work in terms of rigor and physicality sought on the surface.
The undulations in the color were obtained with flexible spatulas, metal blades, or with masonry tools (smooth or serrated trowels), to create material rhythms that “vibrate” under the light. And this Red Monochrome of 1959 presented here is a clear and rare example of this. These undulations transform the monochrome into a dynamic field, where light moves across the ripples of the surface. The red, therefore, becomes living and pulsating matter.

The work is registered in the Bernard Aubertin Official Archive and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and archival documentation issued by the Archive itself. There is also a stamped and signed declaration from the archive in which the upcoming publication in the General Catalogue in preparation is mentioned.

We are dealing with a Red Monochrome of 1959, historic and very rare, vibrant, tactile, which testifies to the turning point the artist sought to imprint on art in the second half of the twentieth century.

For privacy and security reasons, the archival number present in the certificate attached to the photographs has been obscured.