Pace

Pace (1962-2007), which takes up the motif of the mirror, a feature of Pistoletto’s work in the early 1960s. It was in 1961 that he first transferred a photographic image onto a mirror using polished Stainless steel plates, onto which he affixed a cut-out outline. These paintings-cum-mirrors create a relationship of instantaneity between the viewer and his or her reflection. According to Pistoletto, the mirror captures the encounter between the image-time and image-movement together: “Fixed time follows changing time in the same space and on the same surface. It’s a trap, a capture of the present.” The rainbow flag, prior to becoming the emblem of LGBT+ communities, was chosen in 1961 to represent the aspirations for peace in Italy — and this is the meaning to be found in Pistoletto’s Pace.

The work was first presented by the Pinault Collection in the exhibition « Forever Sixties » at the Couvent des Jacobins in Rennes (2023).