CHRISTOPH KELLER Christoph Keller, Introduction | Page 18

TRE MORTI - TRE COLORI, 2019
Tre morti - Tre colori, 2019
Photogravure, unique
25 x 35,2 cm each (unframed, 9 parts)
78,3 x 108,9 cm (mounted, unframed)
84,3 x 114,9 x 3,5 cm (framed)
(CK 275)
During his residency at the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History in Rome,
Christoph Keller was invited to produce this work at the Istituto Centrale per la Graphica (National
Institute for the preservation of etching techniques). The artist used an experimental photo-engraving
process on copper plates, thus recalling the time and history of paper printmaking.
Photoengraving was widely used in the 20th century to produce halftone illustrations for
newspapers. A halftone, or halftone image, is an image comprised of discrete dots rather than
continuous tones. When viewed from a distance, the dots blur together, creating the illusion of
continuous lines and shapes.
Tre morti – Tre colori consists of nine photogravures, using three press-cutouts that show “tre
morti” or three infamous violent deaths: Pier Paolo Pasolini and Aldo Moro, who were assassinated
respectively in 1975 and in 1976, as well as Omar Mukhtar, who was executed in 1931 shortly after
this image was taken. Each photograph has been printed three times, using three different the
colors: green, black, and red, an allusion to the Italian flag.
Aldo Moro (1916-1978): Italian Prime Minister from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976, Moro
was abducted by the Red Brigades in March 1978 and held captive for two months. Following Giulio
Andreotti’s decision not to negotiate with the Red Brigades, Moro was shot dead on May 9, and left
in the trunk of a car.
Omar Mukhtar (1858-1931): leader of the Libyan resistance against the Italian colonization from 1991
until his death in 1931, Mukhtar was known as The Lion of the Desert. In September 1931, aged 73,
Mukhtar was wounded in battle and captured by the Italian army. He was hanged a few days later
following the decision of an Italian court of justice (with the hope that the resistance would die with
him). Libya only became independent in 1951.
Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975): the Italian film director, poet, and writer was murdered in 1975. His
body was found beaten to death and partially burnt, on the beach at Ostia. Although the autopsy
revealed that he had been beaten to death. It is still unclear as of today who commissioned his
assassination.
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