Carlo Alfano Biography
Carlo Alfano was born in Naples in 1932, where he lived and studied ABA (Academy of Fine Arts) before becoming a painter, designer and exponent of intermediate art. After starting with Informal painting in the 1950s, he began to reflect on the mechanisms of vision and perception, moving from the production of kinetic works of art to the creation of three-dimensional environments. After the 1960s, his analytical attitude took on the characteristics of conceptual research. This season is characterized by linguistic and philosophical elements that investigate space and time, the individual and the other, and was widely represented in the exhibition. Among the most famous works are the Distances series and the work Room for voices, installed for the first time in the double frame version, the cycle Fragments of an anonymous self-portrait, begun in 1969 and concluded only with the death of the artist . During the 70s and with greater continuity in the following decade, Alfano's work returned to figuration, dealing with mythological subjects and iconographic references from the history of art, without however giving up the self-reflexive dimension that distinguishes his results up to his latest creations . His art is distinguished by a continuous and rigorous artistic style, original and restless, not comparable to any specific current of the second half of the twentieth century. During his artistic career, Alfano participated in the most important exhibitions of his time, arousing much criticism. In the decade 1980-90, Alfano's research accentuated the tones of an intimate and existential work of profound lyricism, as at the XL Venice Biennale (1982). He died in 1990, and in April 2001 the Castello dell'Ovo museum in Naples dedicated an important retrospective to him.
