Gilberto Zorio Biography
Gilberto Zorio (Andorno Micca, 21 September 1944) is an Italian sculptor, among the main exponents of Italian Arte Povera. His first exhibition was in 1963, in the Piccola Gallery of Modern Art in Turin. Since 1967 he has established himself as one of the first exponents of Arte Povera. His first solo exhibition was in 1969, in Paris at the Ileana Sonnabend Gallery. 1973 Gian Enzo Sperone Gallery. Also in 1973 he participated in the tenth Quadrennial in Rome. Kunstmuseum Lucerne in 1976. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1979, also in 1979 Christian Stein Gallery. Participates in the Venice Biennale in 1978, 1980 and 1986 again at the Venice Biennale with a personal room. Documenta IX in Kassel in 1992. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Collection New York. Author of geometric sculptures, particularly star-shaped, in the 1980s he introduced research into light and energy into his works, through lighting sources and ongoing chemical reactions. There have been numerous monographic exhibitions of which he has been the subject, including those at the Center Georges Pompidou (1986), at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (1987), at the universities of Philadelphia (1988) and Berkeley (1992). 2000 Galerie Guy Bärtschi, Geneva. 2001 Dia Art Foundation: Chelsea, New York, NY, Tate Modern, London (England). 2002 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Walker Art Center Minneapolis MN; Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney NSW; MOCA THE GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY Los Angeles CA. 2005 ZKM | Museum für Neue Kunst & Medienmuseum, Karlsruhe, Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro Milano, again in 2005 at the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepubilk Deutschland Bonn. Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 1962-1972 Tate Modern, London, at MAMbo in Bologna (2009). 2011 a major exhibition - event to talk about Arte Povera curated by Germano Celant which starting from September will take place simultaneously, until April 2012, in various important Italian museums and cultural institutions, in Bari, Bologna, Milan, Naples, Rome, Turin, Bergamo. From 7 October 2011 until 8 January 2012 MAXXI presents Homage to Arte Povera with two large installations by Jannis Kounellis and Gilberto Zorio. In 2013 he participated in the LV Biennale of Venice, his works were exhibited in the Pavilion of the Republic of Cuba together with those of HH Lim, Francesca Leone, Hermann Nitsch, in the exhibition "The perversion of Classicism: anarchy of narratives". Recurring elements of his works are stars, spears, animal skins. Incandescent wire (1970), javelin (1971), laser beam (1975) are the energy vectors that build the stellar shape from time to time. Vases, basins and crucibles, like glass and lead stills, constitute alchemical transformation processes. However, there is never a metaphor, a reference to something else (despite the archetypal values and the resonances of meaning that the star generally possesses): Zorio is interested in the strength of the image, not the symbolic value, of the materials , even the most common ones, the possibility of combination that generates positive conflicts and energetic tensions. Guggenheim Museum, New York City; Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Turin, Italy; Dia: Chelsea, New York City; GAM - Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Turin; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Trento, Italy; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; SMAK (Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst), Ghent, Belgium.
