Emilio Vedova Emerging ’82 - 3, 1982

First exhibited at documenta 7, Emerging ’82 - 1 and Emerging ’82 - 3 (both 1982) are characteristic of Emilio Vedova’s paintings from this period, widely recognised as the acme of his career. In 1980, the artist had travelled to Mexico, where the colours and immense landscapes made a lasting impression on him. ‘...Mexico. All at once the kaleidoscope of emotions, of wide American spaces, of scents and colours was right back,’ he wrote to Rudi Fuchs in 1982. ‘The clashes were immediately very harsh. A new geography of immense “horizontal” spaces. My feeling is that of being an ant.’ Upon his return, Vedova introduced an explosion of colour into his palette, refining the abstract painterly style that had defined his practice throughout his career.