‘Shell’ Del Vaz Projects
Ashton Cooper, Artforum
May 2022
Cloud, 1974–78, a body-size construction by Nicola L. (1932–2018), is a large, wall- mounted rectangle of cotton canvas measuring five feet high and three feet wide. From it hang five pockets of fabric that respectively mimic a head, arms, and legs. This object is one of the artist’s “Pénétrables,” 1968–2012, so named by French art critic Pierre Restany in the late 1960s. These wearable works were paraded in various art and non-art settings around Europe in the 1960s and 1970s by figures such as musician Caetano Veloso, attendees of the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, and the artist’s own son. Indeed, they are paintings you can put on and animate with your body. […]