The artist
DiLaurenti Gallery Ltd., New York
Private Collection, Central America
Thence by descent to the present owner

New York, DiLaurenti Gallery Ltd., Burri 18 Paintings 1953-86, 1986, no. 4

Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini, Eds., Burri, Contributi al Catalogo Sistematico, Cittá di Castello 1990, p. 204, no. 873, illustrated in colour with incorrect orientation

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the illustration fails to convey the shimmering quality of the plastic. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals a small glue residue to the top left tip of the plastic element, and a very small crack, with an associated small loss, to the top and bottom left corners. No restoration is apparent under ultra-violet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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[Burri] handles the flame like an infernal brush. (Cesare Brandi cited in: Cesare Brandi, Burri, Rome 1963, p. 31)

Alberto Burri's imposing Bianco Plastica L.A., 1968, is an extremely rare and stunning example from his widely renowned Plastiche series. The sensual and rarefied beauty of Bianco Plastica L.A., resides in the competing forces of tension and equilibrium created by the contrast of the deep tonality of the black canvas and the transparency and delicacy of the shimmering plastic lying on a nuptial, virginal white background. The vitality of the flame is still perceivable where the plastic was not completely burned by the artist. With a spontaneous sensuality Burri plays with his materials and, as observed by J.J. Sweeney, allows them to collaborate with him on the final output of his work. (cited in: Exhibition Catalogue, Venice, XXIX Biennale Internazionale dell'Arte, 1958)

Before the Second World War, Burri, a student of medicine, did not envisage any artistic career. After being captured in Tunisia and interned in a prisoner of war camp, Burri returned to Italy with an inner necessity of exploring the possibilities of painting and abandoned a potentially secure career as a doctor. Painting represented for Burri a moment of catharsis, a response to his desire to overcome memories of the war by escaping into a creative dimension. Painting suddenly became essential to Burri's life and "he created a new world of form" (Herbert Read cited in: Exhibition Catalogue, London, Hanover Gallery, Alberto Burri, 1960, n. p.)

In Burri's oeuvre the role of materials is not representational and the compelling presence of matter is the focal point of his work. Having exploited raw, customary and modest materials such as sacco (burlap), legni (wood) and ferri (iron), Burri moves from the use of natural materials to artificial and synthetic ones that do not have any pre-determined form in nature and do not keep any quality from their original essence. As Bruno Mantura reflects, Burri's decision to turn to plastic, a symbol of twentieth-century life, was quite radical: "[Plastic is] impermeable to the air, created to wrap objects of every-day consumption, and it does not react to laceration. [..] Only the flame, the flame-torch is able to 'paint' it.  And it opens blazing craters in it. [..] Burri entrusts to the flame the duty to 'let things happen'. [..] These works become a raw 'monumentalization' of the Void (Bruno Mantura cited in: Exhibition Catalogue, Rome, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Alberto Burri, 1976, p. 11). In 1963 Cesare Brandi wrote of the first Plastiche works that they represented the culmination of all Burri's previous experiments... in the direct line which leads from the Gobbi through the Combustioni and the Ferri to the Plastiche, they constitute an astonishing novelty" (cited in: Cesare Brandi, Burri, Rome 1963, p. 5).

Fascinated by the idea of using fire as a creative medium, Burri collaborated with the writer Giuseppe Cenza in the preparation of an article for the magazine Civiltà delle Macchine. In that early experiment, Burri burned paper and fabric, suspending the process when he felt he had obtained an expressive image and a surprising impact, adhering the remains to an appropriate sheet. The results were published as an illustration in the November/ December 1955 issue of the magazine. This led Burri to produce a number of burnings, using first wood and later other materials such as plastic, fastened to canvas and other supports. The birth of his paintings came from the destruction of the burnt materials and in this process, as observed by Cesare Brandi, plastic was "a material on the edge of disappearing: the annihilation of the material". (cited in: Cesare Brandi, Burri, Rome 1963, p. 31)

Alberto Burri, together with Lucio Fontana, is widely celebrated as the leading pioneer and most influential Post-War Italian artist. Through their incessant research and experimentations, both artists challenged and redefined the limits of the canvas: Fontana with his first Buchi dating from 1949 and Burri by sewing his first burlap in 1950. Although different in his interpretations, Lucio Fontana was drawn to Burri's work and notably collected his Studio per uno Strappo, 1950-51, which he saw at the 1952 Biennale in Venice when Burri was relatively unknown. Burri's impact on European art movements, such as Arte Povera, and American artists, such as Robert Rauschenberg, is immense. It is interesting to note that in Paris Yves Klein made his first fire paintings with a flame-thrower only in 1961. As J. J. Sweeny once commented, "Burri is a poet, a surgeon who knows and feels with intense visualization what lies in the fleshy surface of his compositions, and an artist who is able to suggest this to the sympathetic observer". (J. J. Sweeney, Burri, Rome 1955, p. 6).