Enrico Sirello, 1975 – Optical Structure With Repeated Black Modules On White Ground

Enrico Sirello (Livorno, 1930–2012)
Optical Structure with Repeated Black Modules on White Ground, 1975
Acrylic on panel, 35 × 35 cm
Signed, dated and titled on the reverse — Archive no. 05/…

This study belongs to the group of panels produced by Sirello in the mid-1970s, at the height of his research into anisotropic effects and visual perception.
The composition is built from a sequence of repeated black modules, arranged with slight irregularity on a white ground. Their repetition produces a subtle optical vibration, which shifts and changes depending on the viewer’s line of sight.

For Sirello, painting was not representation but a perceptual experience. He described these works as “night observations”, images emerging “from the darkness of the mind” during long moments of silent concentration. The modules do not refer to real objects: they are mental constructs, visual notes anticipating larger mural projects.

This panel reflects his mature phase: a rigorous modular language, an activated surface, and a visual space that transforms as the viewer moves.

Condition: good original condition, stable surface, minor age-related wear.
Frame: original black wooden strip frame.

Enrico Sirello (1930–2012) was a significant figure of the Livorno avant-garde and the Italian Arte Programmata movement. From the 1960s onward, he developed a geometric and perceptual language rooted in Gestalt psychology and the study of visual phenomena.
His work explored how vision operates, how the eye organizes form, and how movement can be suggested on a static surface through rhythm, direction, and modularity.

In 1965, he took part in the exhibition Strutture Significanti with Baldi, Cannilla, Drei, Glattfelder, Guerrieri, Lazzari, Lorenzetti, Masi, Pace and Pesciò, accompanied by critical texts by Giulio Carlo Argan, Germano Beringheli, and Emilio Garroni.
For Sirello, art functioned as a mental laboratory — a place where thought becomes image and where the act of seeing becomes active and aware.