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Armando
Testa - the essence of advertising
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The
father of Italian advertising in a major retrospective.
Castello di Rivoli in Turin hosts a retrospective
of the work of Armando Testa, the father of Italian
advertising. |
When
asked to describe the work of the Turin-born advertising
guru Armando Testa in three words "less
is more" immediately come to mind.
 Minimalism
effected much of 20th century art
and Testa was a minimalist by nature. He based his
advertising art - and indeed art it is - on the
principles of impact and simplicity. Testa was influenced
by abstract art and is perhaps the first modern
Italian adman. In his ads the decontextualised product
reigns supreme. Consider, for example, Pirelli's
baby elephant which had a tyre instead of a trunk.
 Testa
made ample use of metaphor in his work - just think
of his stylised shapes and red and black figures
- leaving behind his own unease as he opened the
doors to new parallel worlds where anything can
happen. And wherever traditional methods of representation
were impossible he made rhetoric and semantics his
own, creating sets of Pandora's boxes, each one
open to numerous levels of interpretation. Testa's
messages have multiple meanings such as the logo
for the popular aperitif Punt e Mes: the
logo is a visual translation of the expression "un
punto e mezzo", while on another level reflecting
the taste of the drink itself - bitter with a touch
of sweetness.
Television first made its way into Italian
homes in the 1960s. Testa turned his attention to
the new medium and embraced it in full, building
new uncharted worlds around his geometric creations.
Among his most famous characters are the Caballero
Misterioso, Carmencita, Paulista and all the
inhabitants of planet Papalla who enthralled
the public night after night in the television phenomenon
"Carosello". (Carosello was an innovative
mix of comic sketches and advertising in which cartoon
characters were associated with different products.)
 Armando
Testa died in 1992, leaving behind his works
(now showcased up until May 13th in a
major exhibition in Turin's Castello di Rivoli)
and an advertising agency which still handles campaigns
for clients the like of supermarket chain Esselunga
and the electoral candidate Francesco Rutelli
with his smiling promises of a better Italy. But
that, dear friends, is another story.
The Spotlight is still on...
Celebrating
Carosello
Although it stopped broadcasting 25 years ago Carosello
still holds a place in the heart of millions of
Italians. Synonymous with bedtime for the generation
that grew up through the sixties and seventies here
are some of Carosello's best-loved characters.
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ELENA GUARNERI |
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March
2001
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THE SURVIVOR'S 
