"By renouncing extraneous means, Alviani arrives at a new form of illusionism (is the surface undulating or flat?). He does not propose a closed and perfect image, but a value to be conquered, to be earned, not a point of view but the search for one: which, needless to say, will never be found. Alviani's object 'physically changes' and 'always surpasses the spectator': that is, it represents a tangible and full-bodied phenomenon while always remaining 'beyond'."
Maurizio Fagiolo, from the Arte All'Arte I catalogue, 1996
Getulio Alviani was invited for the first edition of Arte all'Arte by the curator Laura Cherubini presenting his work in the Sala del Palazzo Patrizi in Siena.
"This work derives from a work Alviani created in 1964. It was called Opgame and was a game ("...an optical game, perhaps even a serious one...like the palio,..." the artist now writes) composed of pink and green discs multiplied in the space of the reflection. But in this case the word is also replicated.
Maurizio Fagiolo traced as characteristic features of Alviani's work two elements that are always found intertwined in the artistic tradition from Baroque to Futurism: light and dynamism. "Dynamism also applies to the other activities. The op dresses: the designs of haute couture fabrics (for Marucelli) in which the design combined with the pleating of the fabric structurally enters into the fabric (whereas today we are seeing an 'op' fashion). The op studies, with the orthogonal weaving of lines to create ever-changing screens, or with circular rhythms that give rise to spirals or targets with hypnotic reflections. The op games, with the curved specular elements reflecting objects, going so far as to multiply them in a 'fair of vanity' perspective. The op structures: the replication of a module with the intervention also of colour, which manages to facet the programmed diamond. And finally, the op architectures, the first example of which is the 'vibratory textured surface' for the Kindeergarte. [...]
And also in this work on the Palio, the point of view is changeable and the illusionism remarkable: the object is almost indistinguishable from its reflection. The dynamism of the viewer plays an important role in the enjoyment of the work. "Alviani, in different ways, always says the same things: he is interested in didactics, visual education, behavioural modelling. An infinite number of others are contained in one of his structures: there is no prevailing vision over the others because all possibilities of vision are acceptable". There is therefore no such thing as a prevailing vision; research is problematic because it takes into account the different possibilities. Even 'light is thus revealed as one and many'. Fundamental is the technical aspect that allows the different eventualities to be verified. "Alviani has elaborated on the dynamism of his work a formula that has the infallibility of a logical-mathematical demonstration: 'specularity + reflection + light source + visual angle + movement = vibrativeness (of the object) + behaviour = interrelation + perception = situation'. The situation, that's the problem, and the point of arrival is twofold: the work is 'in situation', the viewer is 'in situation'. And opaliop reflects the multifaceted situation of the Palio."
Laura Cherubini, Arte all'Arte I, 1996
