This book is published on the occasion of the solo exhibition held at Institut Malthildenhöhe in Darmstadt from July 23rd to September 4th 2005. It collects 70 drawings by the artist and his text concerning some reflections over the contemporary painting role.

“These notes are for those who think my paintings are a more or less elegant exercise in decorative aestheticism. I would like to tell them that I believe and trust in the lyrical value of color and signs, but I do not think of painting, and art in general, as an escape from reality, a free zone. Just the opposite: I believe art continues to be a tool of awareness and therefore of immersion in reality.” (Giorgio Griffa)

Giorgio Griffa was born in Turin in 1936. Since 1968 he has held about one hundred solo shows in public and private spaces, including the 39th Venice Biennial in 1980, and the GAM in Turin in 2001-02. He has published the following texts: Non c’è rosa senza spine (Ed. Martano, Turin 1975); Cani sciolti antichisti (Martano and Samanedizioni, Genoa 1980); Drugstore Parnassus (Martano and Ottenhausen Verlag, Aachen 1981); In nascita di Cibera (Studio Noacco, Chieri 1989); 434-442-443-... (Ed. Franco Masoero, Turin 1992); Il principio di indeterminazione (Ed. Maestri Incisori, Milan 1994); Di segno in segno (with Martina Corgnati - Ed. Stefano Fumagalli, Bergamo 1995); Come un dialogo (Lorenzelli Arte, Milan 1997); Approdo a Gilania (Galleria Giancarlo Salzano, Turin 1998); Intelligenza della materia (Galleria Giancarlo Salzano, Turin 2000); 60 schizzi da opere 1968/2000 e un testo (Ed. Franco Masoero, Turin 2000); Nelle orme dei Cantos (Libri Scheiwiller, Milan 2001).