Gianfranco Notargiacomo Biography
Gianfranco Notargiacomo's entire work represents a research into the very meaning of making art, both from a philosophical, linguistic and gestural point of view. Sometimes these three approaches mix together, as in the case of the series of large portraits with enamel backgrounds of the Private History of Philosophy cycle, of the painted sheet metal sculptures entitled Takete or of the Tempest and Assault cycle, in which pre-romantic citations and Turnerian influences , philosophy of language and pictorial gestures interact. Born immediately after the war, Gianfranco Notargiacomo is influenced by multiple influences ranging from historical avant-gardes to abstract expressionism. In the 1960s of the economic boom and protests, he took part in the contemporary conceptual climate that was taking shape, to the point of inaugurating, among the few initial protagonists, the season of return to painting that would characterize the end of the 1970s and the first half of the 80s. His work includes painting, sculpture, cards, performances – defined at the time as actions – and the use of multiple materials including enamel and acrylics, plasticine, sheet metal, fabrics, plaster, wood, metal, typographic tools and more. Gianfranco Notargiacomo was born in Italy, in Rome, in 1945. Since art was an early passion of his, at the age of ten he was accompanied to the Quadrennial, where he was struck by the work of Emilio Vedova and Alberto Burri. This event will decide what his initial influences will be. Later, American artists, in particular Franz Kline, would also be his points of reference in his early youthful phase. The sale of his first paintings, at seventeen, allowed him to buy a jacket, shirts and a scooter, making him reflect on the connection between making art and its impact on reality. Later, precisely to understand the profound reasons behind painting, Gianfranco Notargiacomo graduated in Philosophy (Aesthetics) with Emilio Garroni at the Sapienza University of Rome. In the 1960s the world reopened. In 1969, his action at the Arco d'Alibert Gallery consisted of a real performance: for one evening the stalls of vintage clothes from the Porta Portese market were hosted in the gallery. The garments sold are marked, as normally used in tailoring clothes, by a label with the name of the author and the gallery owner Mara Coccia: "Gianfranco Notargiacomo for Mara Coccia Rome", which gives the clothes the unique character of entire operation. In March 1971 his first solo exhibition was in Rome, at Plinio De Martiis's Galleria La Tartaruga. The title is Our Differences. The over two hundred little men in colored Pongo plasticine that invade the gallery in all its spaces seem to reflect this perfectly. During this first exhibition, defined in the Herald Tribune by Edith Schloss as "The most surprising show", he was called by Scheggi to teach as his assistant at the Academy of Fine Arts in L'Aquila where, from the following academic year, he would be holder of courses in Psychology of Form and Theory of Perception. In '72 he was invited by Gian Tomaso Liverani to enter the La Salita gallery. He will exhibit in both galleries: La Tartaruga and La Salita. Among the various exhibitions that followed, the double solo exhibition Autorirati a La Salita in December 1973 appeared decisive in affirming the desire to paint... only the gallery owner and the artists were present at the inauguration. This exhibition is preceded by one day by another double solo show at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni where, in homage to Piero Della Francesca, he exhibits an egg suspended from the center of the building's dome, as if to close every conceptual experience. In 1974, at the La Tartaruga gallery, Private History of Philosophy: the canvases depicting the 10 philosophers considered fundamental - there are also Croce, Husserl, Wittgenstein, Marx - constitute a further, decisive step towards the return to painting. Also from the association with Pliny, the exhibition dedicated to Freud, Famiglia Famiglia, was born in 1976 at La Tartaruga. With Take and Storm and Assault (1979-1980, La Salita gallery) his language takes on that definitive inclination towards a more impetuous abstraction, which distinguishes him and sees him among the protagonists of post-abstraction. The metal segments of the sculpture called Takete enter into a dialogue with the painting, transmitting continuous energy to it. Mariastella Margozzi underlines this in one of her critical texts: “Storm and Assault, the legendary translation of Sturm und Drang in Italy, is for Notargiacomo the cry with which to break all hesitation and venture through a new epic vision of contemporaneity. “Storm and Assault” will become the title of a series of paintings in which the silvery-grey and black color scheme of the previous takes is relaxed and strengthened in a representation of tumultuous skies, illuminated by intermittent flashes, by volcanic sparks in an image density that it wants to bring together and mix sky and sea, waves and clouds”. In 1980 he met Flavio Caroli. From the friendship and esteem that bind them, a series of exhibitions are born. The first, Magico Primario, at the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara (1980), is a statement and will be followed in numerous further exhibitions. Together with Caroli he makes numerous trips abroad, such as those to the United States, Chicago and New York, to London, or to Australia for the Sydney Biennial. In these years the deep relationship with Emilio Vedova was born, whom he met in person during the conference "Work communications of contemporary artists" at the La Sapienza University of Rome, organized by Maurizio Calvesi and Simonetta Lux. Vedova will later report it for the Prize of the Presidency of the Republic at the National Academy of San Luca. In 1982 he was invited by Luciano Caramel to the Venice Biennale in the Central Pavilion, where Emilio Vedova was present in the first room. He participates with two large canvases: 1950 Nuvolari and Homage to Lorenzo Lotto, today preserved respectively at the Macro in Rome and at the Pinacoteca di Jesi. In 1986, he was invited by Maurizio Calvesi to the Venice Biennale in Outdoor Sculpture, where he exhibited a six meter high Takète, in metal painted with industrial enamel, now preserved at the MACAM in Maglione Canavese, a museum conceived and created by Maurizio Corgnati to whom he it binds esteem and friendship. Among the personal exhibitions of these years are: Castel Sant'Elmo in Naples (1981), curated by Flavio Caroli; Officine & Ateliers, Casa del Mantegna, Mantua (1982), where he created the first of the major works entitled Nuvolari, now property of the Province of Mantua. Regarding the work he states: “Nuvolari is speed. Even in the name it is. I was in Mantua, a few steps from his house, when I created the first of those large and fast paintings, thought about for a long time and created by quickly entering the canvas. The title, which was a statement, could only be Nuvolari”. Then, among others: at the Diego Aragona Pignatelli Museum in Naples (1983); Laboratory Museum of the Sapienza University of Rome (1995), curated by Lorenzo Mango; the anthology at the Royal Palace in Milan (1998), curated by Ada Masoero; Roma Assoluta, Museum of Rome in Palazzo Braschi (2004), where a single large work on panel created in the new studio, a former carpentry shop in Mandrione, located near the remains of a Roman aqueduct, depicts Rome seen from above, in where the signs of the past emerge. The work is now the property of the Municipality of Rome and is located in the headquarters of the Capitoline Superintendence of Cultural Heritage. The preliminary version, of the same size, on paper on canvas, was exhibited in 2007 at the Borges Center in Buenos Aires; today it is owned by the RomaTre University; followed by the anthological Sintetico at the Scuderie Aldobrandini in Frascati (2007), curated by Barbara Martusciello and the solo exhibition Post-Abstractismo at the Centro Cultural Borges, Buenos Aires 2007; in 2009 Le nostri divergenze 1971-2009 curated by Mariastella Margozzi at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome which is today the owner of the following works: Takète 1979, Estremo Verde 1999 and Le nostri divergenze 1971/2009. It is in this period that alongside the Takète of various sizes he began working on large roundels, with bright and often dissonant colours. In 2011 he was in China, first in Hangzhou, at the Zhejiang Daily Ideal Culture Development Company, then in Shanghai, at the Heng Yuanxiang Museum, where he created two large Takes. In 2013 at Forte Malatesta, Ascoli Piceno, the anthological A grandi linea, curated by Mariastella Margozzi and Stefano Papetti, which traces Notargiacomo's activity since 1971. The exhibition, which sees a crowd of plasticine men flood the first Sala del Forte, closes the itinerary with the large Tondi and Takète. Among the numerous group exhibitions he was invited to the VIII and XI Biennale de Paris (in 1973 and 1980 respectively); at Arte-Critica, National Gallery of Modern Art, (Rome 1981-Chicago 1982); Italian Art 1960-1982, Hayward Gallery, London (1982); The shape and the shapeless, Galleria Civica, Bologna, (1983); Anniottanta, Galleria Civica, Bologna (1985); Italian art 1960-1985, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt (1985); Italian Art, Museum of Sao Paulo, Brazil (1986); “Postastrazione”, edited by Flavio Caroli, Rotonda di via Besana, Milan (1986); at the Sydney Biennial (1988); Italian Contemporary Art, Taiwan, Museum of Art (1990); at the XIII Quadrennial of Art in Rome (1999); at “Tirannicidi-Il Disegno“, curated by Luigi Ficacci, Rome, Istituto Centrale per la Grafica (2000), at Lavori in corso 10, MACRO (Comunal Gallery of Contemporary Art of Rome) (2000); Homage to Plinio De Martiis, National Chalcography, Palazzo Poli – Rome (2004); Art and the Turtle. Homage to Plinio De Martiis, Vittoria Colonna Museum of Modern Art, curated by Silvia Pegoraro, Pescara (2007); “70s Art in Rome”, curated by Daniela Lancioni, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (2013). For the MAAM Museo dell'Altro e dell'Altrove of Metropoliz Città Meticcia, he created the large wall work "Tempesta e Assalto '80-'14", Rome (2014). He is in Italian Artists of the 20th Century at the Farnesina, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome. After the invitation to the Venice Biennale in 1982 and 1986, he was invited on the recommendation of the philosopher Giacomo Marramao to the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011 (Italian Pavilion, Venice-Arsenale). Since 1979 he has held the Chair of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in L'Aquila, then from 1984 in Florence and from 1999 until 2011 in Rome, where in 2015 he received the title of Academic Master Emeritus. In 2013, on the initiative of the President of the Republic, he received the honor of Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. On 2 December 2015 he received the Franco Cuomo International Award for Art in the Senate. On 8 April 2016, he received the title of Academician of the RomaTre University, where Roma Assoluta 2003, Il Caos ei Giganti 1995 and other large-scale works are permanently exhibited.
