Francesco Binfare' Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Born in 1939 in Milan. He spent his early childhood, during the war, in a small town in the mountains of Valtellina where contact with nature opened him to contemplation and art. Read the full biography

Francesco Binfare' Biography

Born in 1939 in Milan. He spent his early childhood, during the war, in a small town in the mountains of Valtellina where contact with nature opened him to contemplation and art. He learned drawing and painting from his father. In 1960 he met Cesare Cassina who was the first to offer him the opportunity to practice art in the industrial context. From 1967 to 1980 he worked on a cycle of drawings which would constitute the most important analogue source of his research and in which some chapters, such as The Giant and the Shadow or Guilt and Architecture, focus on the archetype of architecture as a matrix , testify to how he already foreshadowed what would be the key themes of postmodernism (Les Villages 1997, Objets-types et archétipes, Hazan Editions). From 1969 to 1976, he directed the Centro Cesare Cassina, a laboratory for design research, sponsored by Cassina and by C&B Italia (now B&B Italia) until 1972, and by Cassina until 1976. He began to transfer the processes to the Cassina Research Center of artistic practice in design research: it investigates new methods to facilitate individual and collective creativity and involves architects and designers in the creation of products destined to become historical pieces of Italian design: Maralunga by Vico Magistretti, Up 5 and Sit Down by Gaetano Pesce, Dolls by Mario Bellini, AeO by Archizoom. Coordinates the creation of projects for the “New Domestic Landscape” exhibition at the Moma in New York (1972). He made research trips to India, the United States and Japan (1970-1973). He promoted experimental initiatives such as Braccio di ferro with Gaetano Pesce and Alessandro Mendini (1973) for the edition of avant-garde models, and Environmedia with Mario Bellini and Pierpaolo Saporito (1974) for the use of interactive media in design practice. In 1980 it established its own Design and Communication Center for the research and promotion of projects, some of which were created for Cassina, including Cab by Mario Bellini, Wink by Toshiyuki Kita, Tramonto a New York by Gaetano Pesce. He designs the setups for the launch of new products and invents what will later be called the concept of the event in planning jargon, giving the designed space an autonomous theme and title. Among the most interesting: the ten-year cycle of installations for Cassina (from “Il Ponte” of 1977 to “Spazio Storico, Razionale, Cosmico” of 1987), The flowers grow on ruins (1978), Design, self-portrait with father and architecture ( Triennale 1979), Il conne (1980), The time of water or bathers after Marx (1982), L'isola dei ori del vento (1984), New Adam and Eve (Venini 1985). He took part in the traveling exhibition on the future of technology with “The Monster and the Canvas” for Mondo Materialis in 1988 and with the project “La Permanenza” at the Milan Triennale in 1992. The “My Right Hand” exhibition in 1996 at the Galleria Milano marked the fruitful meeting with Pierre Restany and his passionate critical intelligence.