END OF THE VERIFICHE (VERIFICATIONS). FOR MARCEL DUCHAMP, 1970
At a certain point I considered the Verifications finished, complete, and I decided to end them where it had all begun. In some degree, I did what the engraver does when he marks an ‘X’ on the plate when the edition is finished: the glass, which is of crucial importance for my composition offers precise physical and visual characteristics to the piece, and, once it has been broken, it is the process itself that cannot be repeated. The result of my gesture was a new image, different with respect to the initial one. And this radical break with what came before led me to think about the intrinsic meaning of the Homage to Niépce, it led me to think about Duchamp; and not only because of the extrinsic circumstance that in Duchamp’s output there is one work that consists of a large broken pane of glass.
I became aware, that is, of the influence, perhaps unwittingly, of Duchamp’s approach, of his not doing, that has been so important to the more recent art, and without which this part of my work would never have been born.
Hence, this photograph is dedicated to his presence.
