Pedano Pino Biography
Pino Pedano was born in 1944 in Pettineo, Sicily, to peasant parents. At seven he began working as a carpenter's apprentice and at seventeen he moved to Milan, where he worked during the day and studied in the evening to obtain an artistic diploma. In 1966 he opened his first artisan workshop in via Santa Maria alla Porta and began to come into contact with artists, designers and architects. In the meantime, he also became involved in politics, participating in Senator Giovanni Marcora's working group during that period of turmoil which would mark a cultural and social turning point.
In the early years of his career, he decorated trendy nightclubs such as Number One, Nepentha and Good Mood, the last of which was fitted out entirely with vertically striped black mirrors. 1974 was a crucial year for the artist. He meets Isa Tutino Vercelloni, director of "Casa Vogue", who helps him organize the inauguration of Pedano Arredamenti in May, with a big party. Renato Cardazzo, owner of the Naviglio art gallery in Milan, also participates in the evening. Shortly after, Pedano developed and patented a multilayer wood processing system called "millefogli", which was presented for the first time at the Salone del Mobile in Milan and to which "Casa Vogue" dedicated the cover.
In 1975 he opened the Pedano Shop, where he began designing, signing and selling household objects with a new style that the artist called "anti-design". Pedano's fame becomes international. In 1977 the Parisian gallery owners Paul and Jean Facchetti, who met in Bologna, dedicated an exhibition to him in the French capital. The exhibition, inaugurated in May, was then extended until October. The Facchettis also organized an exhibition in Zurich the following year. The inauguration dinner is held at the "Kronenhalle" restaurant, a meeting place for important artists of the twentieth century. Pedano's drawing in the guest book was chosen in 2006, together with those of Chagall, Miró and Picasso, to be published in the volume celebrating the ninetieth anniversary of Gustav Zumsteg, owner of the restaurant. In 1979 he held an important exhibition in New York at the Abitare gallery. Between this American exhibition and the following one in 1984, again at the Galleria del Naviglio, where he presented only totems, Pedano spent years of reflection and experimentation.
During the 1984 exhibition, Pedano met Annette Felke, a German student, and three months later they married. Three children were born from the marriage: Isa, Francesco and Stefano. In May 1984, Pedano met Keith Haring, for whom he created several large-format silhouettes. This meeting turns out to be fruitful for both, as Pedano offers the artist technical advice on the use of materials. In 1989, thanks to the will of Lucio Rondelli, the Credito Italiano in Piazza Cordusio in Milan opened its central hall to contemporary art for the first time with a personal exhibition by Pedano. This new phase culminated in the exhibition that the Victoria and Albert Museum in London dedicated to the artist in 1990. During the event, the monograph "Pedano. Opere 1975-1989", edited by Carlo Bertelli and published by Mondadori Arte, was presented. In September of the same year, Pedano exhibited at the Ansaldo in Milan as part of the "30 architects" exhibition. In 1992 the Municipality of Milan organized a personal exhibition of Pedano at the Rotonda della Besana entitled "The Secret Garden", again curated by Carlo Bertelli and with a catalog edited by Electa.
In June 1995, Pedano was admitted to the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, where he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer and highly acute diabetes due to ten years without treatment. Since the 1990s, his cabinetmaking activity has focused on the concept of "healthy sleeping" through the use of natural materials and the design of special orthopedic systems to significantly improve the quality of sleep and life.
