Giorgio Griffa: Paths in the Forest

Paths in the Forest at the Clark Art Institute marks the first solo exhibition in the United States by the 90-year-old Italian abstract painter Giorgio Griffa, on view June 13 through October 12, 2026, in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Griffa works with diluted acrylics in pastel hues to create a watercolor effect on unstretched canvas, purposefully moving on before each piece is finished in keeping with the Zen Buddhist idea of impermanence. His paintings are composed of lines, dots, linear patterns, and numbers in thinned color. Because the canvases are folded for storage, they retain creases and change each time they are exhibited. Across 13 cycles, Griffa explores what he calls the same dark forest, a metaphor for the unknown and the growth that comes with it. He describes his marks as impersonal, belonging to any hand, carrying thousands of years of memory.