Franco Lastraioli Biography
Franco Lastraioli (Florence, 1931) is an Italian painter. In 1961 he was among the founders of the "Gruppo dei 9" of Florence and then was part of the "Gruppo Settanta". He taught at the Liceo Artistico Firenze I and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. Since 1957 he began an intense exhibition activity throughout Italy and abroad with personal exhibitions and participation in important group exhibitions. After his debut in his native Florence at the historic GADA gallery and various exhibitions in numerous Italian cities (Turin, Palermo, Genoa), in 1968 Loring's Art Gallery hosted him in its rooms in New York, a city to which he returned ten years later at Queen College University Art Center. In the 80s and 90s Lastraioli's work was also presented numerous times in Florence in the prestigious Ken's Art Gallery. In Florence he has always been present at the Numero gallery in Fiamma Vigo. A painter with a disruptive imagination, with a fantastic vision of a bizarre, metaphysical and surreal world, Franco Lastraioli stands out for the precision of his drawing and for the bright colors spread on the canvas with rigor and accuracy. Imaginative landscapes tinged with cheerful and curious fantastic games. His biography is endless, in which even the unforgettable Piero Bargellini dedicates ample space to him in his "The Art of the Twentieth Century" published by Vallecchi. Numerous prizes and recognitions, including the Fiorino Prize of Palazzo Strozzi in Florence in 1966. His works can be found in private and public collections, including: Gallery of Modern Art of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Turin, Matera, Vinci, Pieve di Cento, Tuscany Region Palazzo Panciatichi in Florence where he held a personal exhibition in July 2004.
