Ketty La Rocca, born in 1938 in La Spezia, died in 1976 in Florence.
Ketty la Rocca was one of the most important figures on the Italian art scene in the 1970s. She was part of the body art and electronic music scenes of the period. After early experiences with concrete poetry in the 1960s, she developed her signature body of work, "the reductions". In these series, images dissolve - through the act of writing - to the point where they become pure abstraction.
Working with materials as diverse as the letters of the alphbet, hand gestures, x-rays of her own skull, and the practice of automatic writing, Ketty La Rocca constructed her own unique aesthetic language.
Over the last years the work of Ketty La Rocca has gained widespread international acclaim. Retrospectives have been organized in Italy, Europe and the United States, in public and private spaces: Centre d'art contemporain, Geneve (1992); Kunstlerhaus Stuttgart (1995); Kunsthalle Wien (1995); College Marcel Duchamp, Chateauroux (1996); Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, La Spezia (1999); Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (2001); Museo di arte contemporanea e del novecento, Monsummano Terme (2001); Palazzo Fabroni, Pistoia (2002); Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Los Angeles (2002); Galleria Emi Fontana, Milano (2005); MART Rovereto (2007); Palazzo Grassi, Venezia (2008). In 2007 some of her most important pieces have been shown at MOCA Los Angeles during the exhibition WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution.
Ketty la Rocca was one of the most important figures on the Italian art scene in the 1970s. She was part of the body art and electronic music scenes of the period. After early experiences with concrete poetry in the 1960s, she developed her signature body of work, "the reductions". In these series, images dissolve - through the act of writing - to the point where they become pure abstraction.
Working with materials as diverse as the letters of the alphbet, hand gestures, x-rays of her own skull, and the practice of automatic writing, Ketty La Rocca constructed her own unique aesthetic language.
Over the last years the work of Ketty La Rocca has gained widespread international acclaim. Retrospectives have been organized in Italy, Europe and the United States, in public and private spaces: Centre d'art contemporain, Geneve (1992); Kunstlerhaus Stuttgart (1995); Kunsthalle Wien (1995); College Marcel Duchamp, Chateauroux (1996); Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, La Spezia (1999); Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (2001); Museo di arte contemporanea e del novecento, Monsummano Terme (2001); Palazzo Fabroni, Pistoia (2002); Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Los Angeles (2002); Galleria Emi Fontana, Milano (2005); MART Rovereto (2007); Palazzo Grassi, Venezia (2008). In 2007 some of her most important pieces have been shown at MOCA Los Angeles during the exhibition WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution.
