Matter possesses a dark yet fascinating side, arising from its inherent unpredictability. This assertion has repeatedly been upheld by all the leading figures of Art Autre, to use the term coined by the French critic Michel Tapié. Yet, in order to focus on the recent work of Perugia-born artist Laura Alunni, it is necessary to narrow the field, above all, to two major figures of Informal art from the Umbrian-Marche region: Edgardo Mannucci of Fabriano and Alberto Burri of Città di Castello. Friends and colleagues for many years, sharing studios in Rome—first in Via Mario de’ Fiori and later in the legendary Via Margutta—and both supporters of the theories underpinning the Origine Group, alongside artists such as Colla, Ballocco and Capogrossi, how could one fail to regard them as prophets of the compelling mysteries of matter, an exquisite chessboard of life, metamorphosis, upheaval and daring combinations? 
 
Laura Alunni finds herself immersed in the wrenching voluptuousness of moulds, tars, cracks, reliefs and the dark acid patinas characteristic of these two artists—whom we may call her fellow countrymen—following a period of reflection that has brought about an awakening from melancholic insomnia. 
 
In this suite of works, which Laura has entitled Entropy, matter, far from being a mere support, is for her a presence inhabited by memory, bearing countless traces, signs, tremors, enchantments, symbols and metaphors relating to the human individual and society. 
 
But is the Perugia-born artist merely an observer and chronicler, capable of transcribing the scenarios and the sometimes feral movements of matter in transformation? Or should she instead be regarded as an active participant in its processes of transformation, with their inherent unpredictability tempered by the faint glimmer of what we call rational control? 
 
The powerful cries of Expressionist colour, the luminosity of copper, the threads generating a perceptual tumult, the superimposed layers evoking Rotella’s décollage: the entire composition of these works takes shape as a prodigious duel between chaos and order—a dualism that Alunni articulates not in whispered words, but with resounding force. 
 
Returning to the concept of entropy, one must ask whether this universal law of the human condition and cosmic evolution represents a life-affirming force, or rather the harbinger of an inexorable precipice. To my mind, the most plausible answer is that offered by the American artist Robert Smithson, who spoke of decay and of a kind of inverted monumentality. Far removed from this position was the technological optimism of the 1960s, which, with velvet hands, caressed an entire generation of young people.