There's A Crack In Everything That's How The Light Gets In / COBRA

In the early 1960s Asger Jorn undertook a number of so-called ‘modi cations’ to the paintings he had discovered in second- hand shops in Paris. The intention was to thematise painting traditions, the circulation of images and their ability to be placed into new contexts. The paintings were part of an artistic movement, the avant-garde movement Die Situationistische Internationale (Situationist International), which put forward a critique of the art market and everything associated with it that was mythical, arti cial and system-supporting The irony is that Jorn’s modi cations are today considered important contribu- tions to art history and have a high market value.
For Marco Evaristti there is a paradox in the fact that a lot of the communication about art is about the market and money and not the content and communication that the work pos- sesses. The Cobra artists painted revolution into their images. They wanted to overturn society. The Bourgeoisie despised them. There were physical ghts at their previews. Today the same painters are the preferred areas of investment of the Bourgeoisie. The title, There ́s a crack in everything that ́s how the light gets in, is taken from the song Anthem by Leonard Cohen. The song describes how what may look like damage, a fault, a crack in something is in reality the place where light, new thoughts, new life can slip through. Being a great admirer of Jorn, Evaristti took his time before
he could put his brush to the ne painting, Mondiant accrouplé sur fond doré, 1944-49. When he eventually got started, he felt a strong connection with the old painter. By putting his mark on top of Jorn’s work, Evaristti felt that he was about to create a crack and to allow light to slip into the old work. For Evaristti, the aim of the project is to force the art market to see the paining, not as a Jorn, but as a dimension that could be put into new contexts, still being alive and being able to engage with a living and communicating colleague.