(Homs/Libya 1934–1998 Rome)
Untitled (Coca Cola), early 1970s, signed, Fondazione Mario Schifano label on the reverse,
enamel on canvas, 116 x 118.5 cm, framed

This work is registered in the Fondazione Mario Schifano
and is accompanied by a photo certificate of authenticity
dated April 2002

This work is registered in the Archivio Mario Schifano, Rome, under the no. 04093191012 and is accompanied by a certificate.

Provenance:
Giorgio Baratti Collection, Milan
European Private Collection

Literature:
Mario Schifano. A) 1ø Opere su tela 1956–1982, Fondazione M. S. Multistudio, Milan 2007, p. 178 no. pm70/414

The signs, details and exteriors in which fragments of common
advertising slogans can be easily identified – the “ESSO” oval sign,
the Art Nouveau whirls of “COCA COLA” – are neither Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup cans, nor Kounellis’s signs and numbers, because Schifano destroys
the integrity of the object without, however, transforming it in a mere sign that is wholly detached from its meaning.
The protagonist is always the image that is filtered through the often
benevolent eye of memory. Thus, “Esso” and “Coca Cola” become fragments
of a landscape that is both reality and memory at once: they represent the
emerging of an image – never an object – that comes from the artist’s pre-conscious as well as from every man’s daily life.
Marco Meneguzzo, 1982