Sponsored by Sondrio Culture Council Office

Jorrit Tornquist is an architect and a biologist. He was born in Graz, Austria, in 1938. Since 1992, he has also become an Italian citizen. He is above all a painter. He teaches light-colour at Milan Polytechnic, Faculty of Industrial Design, at the Faculty of Architecture in Graz and in the Carrara Academy in Bergamo. He has been studying colours and perception for forty years.

He started from a very scientific and ecological approach, based on accurate experiments on colour, density and clarity and on the analysis of the complementary effects, according to the Concrete Art tradition. Subsequently, the artist became aware of the insufficiency of an art, which was limited to geometric and programmed projects. Therefore, Tornquist elaborated his own "Theory of Colour", based on his technical knowledge, together with personal sensibility and studies about colours effects on mood. The merger of scientific and psychological elements in the work, his attempt to conciliate the colour structural-chromatic value with the sensitive-affective value, in fact, are the artist's actual innovations.

Tornquist firmly believes in colours. Colours are his philosophy of life. He succeeded in assimilating the matter of colours with the ideal phenomenon of light, thanks to very helpful materials. In addition to tempera and oil colours, he uses papers, cushions, and rubbed or raised canvas forming three-dimensional geometric figures that produce light. According to what he says: "There is matter, but I don't need it. I need a three-dimensional texture, in order to make the colour be seen as light, for two-dimension means a different perception of light than the real perception of light". Tornquist did not only paint pictures. As a colourist, he also extended his activity to the practical life, to the rural and city architecture. In 1978, he collaborated to Turin General Town-planning Scheme. In 1995, he attended to the colours of Jakomini Platz, in the centre of Graz, his native town. Then, he also attended to the colours of innumerable great buildings, e.g. professional schools, industries, and hotels.

In 1996-99, he realised the chromatic plan for the thermostat of Brescia Municipal Services Board. The work is regarded as a true sculpture, more than 120 meters high. Tornquist joined a very clean image to high technology, fully respecting the environment. The system is harmonically based on the green of vegetation, the blue of the sky, the warm yellow and red as dominant descriptive colour. The non-industrial buildings final aspect is an iridescent aluminium skin, obtained through stratification, perfectly integrated with the surrounding landscape.

Credito Valtellinese Gallery mounted an exhibition, meant to show a variety of the artist's works, according to his various periods. It ranges from the "concrete" works of the '60s until the latest, very modern "cloths", his sculptures, and a wide section dedicated to his masterpiece: the thermostat. This section includes plans, the plastic model and documentary. During the exhibition, also Tornquist's latest book will be presented. It is a didactic work, entitled "Colore - Luce in teoria e in pratica", and published by Centro Colore Milano. Catalogue available at Credito Valtellinese Gallery Credito Valtellinese Group Galleries in Milan and Sondrio are on line: //www.creval.it/ E-Mail: creval@creval.it

For further information
Credito Valtellinese Gallery, Sondrio
Phone 0342. 522738
E-Mail: creval@creval.it