Casamatta

"I hope the world I choose does not have a lazy eye."

This inclination for the vision, for discovering what lies hidden in reality, what is not obvious to the eye is a fundamental characteristic of the work of Matta, a Surrealist prophet who has devoted his life to creating visions.

And it was to celebrate the creativity in the personal life of this great Chilean artist that CASAMATTA came about. The book accompanies the exhibition of the same name at the Triennale Design Museum. It is the first attempt in Italy to account for all the versatility of Matta’s output, poised somewhere between art, design and craftsmanship.

The book reflects the surprising nature of the work Matta devoted to his home, which includes oil drums that open like flowers to become massive chairs, and armchairs shaped by the movement of the body of an affectionate lover. The catalogue contains the most intimate and secret works of the artist; objects that did not demand to become museum pieces, but which asked to be experienced and used together with family and friends; objects created by means of a unique relationship with his wife Germana, curator of the book: a ​​continuous game of wonder, surprise and affection that led him to invent and build this furniture for his own home i.e. ... CASAMATTA.

“Showing” ought to be the painter’s role, exploring the endless transformations of our bodies, of the universe and of this change in time that poets hold so dear. CASAMATTA is a tribute to a great artist and craftsman, and as Silvana Annicchiarico, Director of the Triennale Design Museum, says in her introduction to the book “a unique opportunity for scholars and experts [...] a real surprise [...] everybody will realise, once again, that design is more and more (and above all) a borderline realm”.