A historic conceptual artist associated with Arte Povera, Piero Manzoni had not been widely exhibited in the US at the time of this show. This presentation featured thirteen rarely shown "line" drawings created between 1959 and 1960. The series comprised drawings of single lines on scrolls or sheets, the scrolls stored in cardboard or metal tubes that were not to be opened. Manzoni conceived of the drawings as fragments of an infinitely long line, and thus as realizations of the gap between material possibility and metaphysical ideas. Included in the show was Line 7,200m (1960), the longest in the series at the length listed in the title. Condensed into a barrel-sized, lead-plated zinc cylinder, the work was created at a printing press by pressing a bottle of India ink against a manually rotated scroll, a three-hour process attended by witnesses.
The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue.
Focus Series: Piero Manzoni: Line Drawings was part of the museum’s Focus Series (1992–1998), which was dedicated to presentations of distinct bodies of work by artists working in all media and featured a roster of distinguished local and international artists.
Focus Series: Piero Manzoni: Line Drawings was organized by Alma Ruiz, Curatorial Assistant , The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.