Alberto Biasi Biography

After his studies in Architecture and industrial design at the University of Venice, from 1969 to 1988, Biasi served as a professor of advertising graphic arts at the Professional Institute in Padua.

In 1959, he participated in various artistic youth events and, with his architectural student peers, he formed the Gruppo Enne-A. In 1960, he exhibited together with Enrico Castellani, Piero Manzoni, Agostino Bonalumi and other European artists at the Galleria Azimut in Milan. Also in 1960, during a period characterised by the spirit of innovation and experimentation, in close collaboration with Manfredo Massironi, he formed Gruppo N. The following year, he joined the movement 'Nuove tendenze' ('New Trends'). In 1962 he exhibited with Bruno Munari, Enzo Mari for Gruppo N together with Milan's Gruppo T in the first Programmed Art exhibition at the Negozio Olivetti in Milan.

In this period, especially between 1959 and 1960, Biasi created his first series of works: the 'Trame' are rectangular and permeable objects, where the modularity has optical-kinetic implications in the relationship between light and the shifting of a person's gaze.

Soon after followed the Rilievi ottico-dinamici, overlapping lamellar structures in contrasting colours that spark special visual effects. Later in the 1960s, he produced the 'Torsioni' series–featuring the use of mostly bicolour lamelle to generate optical dynamism through different observer viewpoints–and his 'Ambienti' pieces. He also realised Light prisms, which he designed in 1962 and transferred to environmental dimensions in 1969.After his Gruppo N experience, Biasi continued his investigation on the interaction between the spectator and the work of art. In the 1970s, he began elaborating Politipi, a cycle to which he devoted himself until the 1990s (when small colour inserts appear): characterised by the layering and interweaving of fine strips, it thus alludes to the third dimension.

In the late 1990s, Biasi conceived the series of Assemblaggi, combinations of different, possibly monochrome surfaces–also in diptych and triptych arrangements–where the tridimensional effect takes on the greater force. In the last decade, this latter feature has emerged in the form of several vertical sculptures made from steel.

In the span of his more than fifty-year career, Alberto Biasi has participated in many international exhibitions including the XXXII e XLII Biennale of Venice, the X, XI and XIV Quadriennale of Rome, and the XI Biennale of São Paulo. He has exhibited in various graphic design Biennales, earning important recognitions including the World Print Competition '73 of the California College of Arts and Crafts in collaboration with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

He has held numerous solo exhibitions in private and public spaces such as the Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz, Poland, the Museo Civico agli Eremitani in Padua, the Museu Diocesà in Barcelona, Palazzo Ducale in Urbino, Palazzo dei Priori in Perugia, the MACBA in Buenos Aires, the MAC in Santiago, Chile, the MARCA in Catanzaro, Palazzo Reale in Genova and Palazzo Pretorio in Cittadella (Padua).

His works are part of prestigious public collections and museums in Italy and abroad, including the MoMA in New York, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome, the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and the Ministero degli Affari Esteri in Rome.

Text courtesy Dep Art Gallery.