La Mouche (Fly) 1960

Mario Avati made "La Mouche" using mezzotint. Look closely and you will notice tiny white dots emerging from a velvety black background. It's a fly, and it's huge! I can imagine Avati scraping away at the plate, the image slowly emerging. It must have taken absolute concentration and precision, the smallest slip of the hand could mess it all up. It reminds me of some of the early surrealist artists who were interested in capturing the unseen world of dreams. Perhaps Avati saw the fly as some kind of otherworldly creature, an alien even? Notice how the whiteness of the fly's wings are almost mirror images of the field of stars in the background. The insect seems to be flying through the night sky. It makes me think about how artists look to the world around them for inspiration, even something as small and overlooked as a fly. We're all in conversation with each other, riffing off each other's ideas, and pushing the boundaries of what art can be.