Lino Sanzeni Biography
Born in 1946 in the lower Brescia area in Bargnano di Corzano, Lino Sanzeni is the son of the post-war Lombard peasant civilization; the sixth of thirteen brothers, he spent his childhood in contact with nature, by whose various manifestations he would always be fascinated, bringing them to life in his works through the dimension of memory. In the 1960s he abandoned the countryside and moved to the city, where his artistic activity began. The first works are made of sheet iron cut and welded with the skill of someone who began working as a blacksmith at the age of fifteen. In 1972 he left his job in the artisan workshop and was hired in a large factory where he worked until 1998; in 1974 he moved to Botticino to start a family. Self-taught, he continues his stylistic research by entering the art world of Brescia and Mantua. In 1984 he held his first solo exhibition at the parish hall of Borgosatollo, in 1987 he won first prize in an art competition in the Mantua area, a province where he continued to receive prestigious awards for several consecutive years both with the "City of Cavriana Award ” and with the “Mincio Prize”. In particular, in 1988 the Cavriana jury awarded the entire group of three sculptures with the gold medal, deeming it appropriate to draw up a special mention for Sanzeni for his commitment and constant refinement of his works, while the commission went to Barbasso, given the succession of flattering results in local art exhibitions puts the artist out of competition, awarding him the special "Carroccio Lombardo" prize of the Lombardy Region. Sanzeni will return to the Gonzaga city in 2000 to exhibit in the Salone Mantegesco of San Francesco, exhibitions will then also be held in Trento; Pistoia, Cremona, Modena; Ferrara, Verona and Milan. Since 1987, together with the painter Silvio Venturelli from Gaverde, he has been the protagonist of the Vallio Terme summer with permanent exhibitions that will be repeated until the mid-1990s. Also in the province of Brescia a long series of awards comes to life such as the "Moretto art prize" on the occasion of the Artestrasse event in the streets of the center of Brescia in 1999 and 2000, in 1997 the "Being quarrymen in Valverde" prize in Botticino in the sculpture section, to which are added the first prizes in the competitions held in San Bartolomeo, Boario Terme and Breno.
