Lucio Amelio Biography
Lucio Amelio (1931-1994) was one of the undisputed protagonists of the Neapolitan contemporary art scene; he was an art dealer, curator and actor. Amelio was born in 1931 in Naples. He had four sisters: Marisa, Giuliana, Lina and Anna. Due to the Second World War his family moved several times and settled in 1944 for twelve years in Herculaneum. After graduating from the scientific high school in 1949, Amelio enrolled in architectural studies at the University of Naples. Thanks to boundless experimentation, which began with the opening of the independent gallery in 1965, the "Modern Art Agency", he contributed to make the city of Naples one of the epicenters of artistic production and critical reflection. His intense work, from conceptual to performative practices, from photography to cinema and theatre, from literature to sound, has been articulated through public art projects, editorial activities and exhibition organisation. It was he who introduced Joseph Beuys and Andy Warhol, from which a deep respect and friendship was born, as well as artistic collaboration with the portrait exhibition "of Beuys, Warhol". One of Amelio's most significant achievements was the Terrae Motus exhibition that he organized in 1982 following the 1980 Irpinia earthquake in Italy. In 1987, Terrae Motus travels with an exhibition to the Grand Palais in Paris. In an attempt to connect Italy to the international avant-garde, he also founded Galerie Pièce Unique, in Paris in the middle of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood in 1988.
