NESPOLO UGO - 500 YEARS OF LEONARDO

Ugo Nespolo spent his childhood in the Biella area before moving to Turin , where his father, Libero, left a small plastics factory to start a business selling measuring instruments and technical items. In Turin, he attended high school, then the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts, where he graduated in Painting under Enrico Paulucci . At the University of Turin, he earned a degree in Modern Literature, with a thesis in Semiology, in the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy.

The beginnings

Nespolo's debut in the Italian artistic scene dates back to the 1960s , the years in which pop trends exploded, followed by conceptual and artefactual research. His first solo exhibitions were held at the Galleria Il Punto in Turin. His research, never strictly tied to a single expressive code, is characterized by a search for ironic and eclectic content that has always marked his work. In these years, Nespolo explored many expressive possibilities, revisiting the influences of the historical avant-garde , Futurism , and Dadaism , and observing the growing influence of Pop Art arriving from America. In his early years he became associated with figures of Italian and Turin culture, in particular with the philosopher Gianni Vattimo and Edoardo Sanguineti , leader of the Gruppo '63 and the neo-avant-garde . He wrote texts and poems for Nespolo's first solo exhibitions in 1966. In the late 1960s he joined Arturo Schwarz's Gallery in Milan, with which he would soon exhibit in New York, Chicago and Belgium. In those years the Gallery counted among its artists Duchamp , Picabia , Schwitters, Arman and Baj . His first exhibition in Milan (5 March 1968) , Macchine e Oggetti Condizionali (Conditional Machines and Objects) , was presented by Pierre Restany . The climate and innovation of this exhibition were captured by Germano Celant , who would later coin the Arte Povera movement, in whose initial exhibitions Nespolo participated; such as 10 per un Percorso (10 for a Path), Galleria Arco d'Alibert, Rome; Con-temp-l'azione (Con-temp-action), Galleria Gian Enzo Sperone, Galleria Il Punto, Galleria Christian Stein, Turin; Deposito d'Arte Presente (Con-temp-action ), Galleria Gian Enzo Sperone, Galleria Il Punto, Galleria Christian Stein, Turin; and Deposito d'Arte Presente (Con-temp-action), Galleria Gian Enzo Sperone, Galleria Il Punto, Galleria Christian Stein, Turin. In 1967, with Ben Vautier, he created the first Italian Fluxus Concert in Turin, entitled Les Mots et Les Choses. He began to travel extensively in the United States, where he came into contact with the New Dada , Fluxus and New American Cinema movements. Nespolo's encounters with some of the group's authors and founders, such as Jonas Mekas , P. Adams Sitney, Gregory Markopoulos, Yoko Ono , Andy Warhol and Regina Cornwell, gave rise to a very personal film research. He thus became one of the initiators of that expressive and research phenomenon that would also be defined as the Cinema of the Artists . His films, featuring artists-performers such as Lucio Fontana , Enrico Baj , Michelangelo Pistoletto , Alighiero Boetti , Allen Ginsberg and Edoardo Sanguineti , were screened in many international museums, including the Centre Pompidou , Paris; Tate Modern , London; Reina Sofia , Madrid; Philadelphia Museum of Art , Filmoteka Polska , Warsaw; National Museum of Cinema , Turin; Fondazione Prada , Milan; Venice Biennale .

Seventies

In the 1970s, Nespolo won the Bolaffi Prize (1974) and created Il Museo (The Museum) (1975–76), a monumental 10-meter work that first demonstrated the reinterpretation and deconstruction of other people's art that would characterize many of his works, putting into practice the theme of quotation typical of postmodern thought. The work was first exhibited in 1976 at the Museo Progressivo d'Arte Contemporanea, Livorno; it later traveled to Europe and the United States. In these years Nespolo experimented with different techniques: embroidery, inlay with precious materials (ebony, mother-of-pearl, ivory, porcelain, silver) as a reaction to the Arte Povera academy and a tribute to the executive mastery of Giovan Battista Foggini . Since the early 1970s, Nespolo has been working with the concept of “ bringing art into life ”, an operation that will imply the relationship with Applied Art and the attempt to combine the two distinct souls of High and Low cultures . The partnership with Enrico Baj leads to the opening in Milan of the Award-Winning Art Studio Baj & Nespolo ^[1] and the love for Pataphysics , also derived from numerous trips and meetings in Paris, will culminate in the foundation of the Ticinese Pataphysical Institute in 1979. Raymond Queneau , founder of OuLiPo and pataphysical Satrap , will approve the book of formal logic Truth and Lies, a logical alternative ^[2] written by Nespolo in 1969 published by the Schwarz publisher. In these years, Gian Paolo Prearo published a monograph on Nespolo's work in Milan, written by Enrico Crispolti . Exhibitions followed at the Galleria Blu and Studio Marconi, Milan; Galleria de' Foscherari, Bologna; Christian Stein, Turin; Herbert Lust Gallery, Chicago; Camden Arts Centre, London; and Arras Gallery, New York. From 2 July 1978, he participated in the exhibition Dalla Natura all'Arte, Venice Biennale (1978). The cinematographic activity began in 1966 with the films Thank You, Kodak , The Gallant Adventure of the Knight with the Happy Face with Lucio Fontana and Enrico Baj , Good Morning Michelangelo with Michelangelo Pistoletto , Boettinbianchenero with Alighiero Boetti , continued with A Supermale , Andare a Roma and The Hustler .

1980s and 1990s

Nespolo's exhibition activity began with a solo show at the Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna , Ferrara; Casa d'Arte Nespolo, Palazzo della Permanente , Milan; the retrospective exhibition La Bella Insofferenza , Villa Croce , Genoa; the catalogue features the poem Nespoleide by Edoardo Sanguineti . He took part in the exhibition L'identité Italienne at the Centre Pompidou , Paris. In 1982, he had a solo exhibition at the Arras Gallery, New York; with texts by Furio Colombo . In 1984 the personal exhibition Le Cinéma diagonal at the Centre Pompidou , Paris; in 1988 the personal exhibition at the Spoleto Festival . In 1986 he designed sets and costumes for the American premiere of Ferruccio Busoni 's Turandot at the Stamford State Opera and in 1990 the sets and costumes for Paisiello 's Don Quixote at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome . In 1990 he had a solo exhibition at the Palazzo Reale , Milan; with texts in the Electa catalogue by Gillo Dorfles and Gianni Vattimo . During these years, Nespolo took over the artistic direction of Richard Ginori and began collaborating with the historic Murano glassworks Barovier & Toso . His interest in ceramics led to a large exhibition at the Museo della Ceramica, Faenza, and in Japan at the International Ceramic Festival, Shigaraki. In Venice, he held a solo exhibition , La Passerella , featuring glass sculptures by Barovier & Toso. In 1991, he held a solo exhibition , A Fine Intolerance, at the Galleria Borghi, New York; followed by a solo exhibition , Pictura, at the National Museum of Romanian Art, Bucharest. In 1997, a series of traveling exhibitions in Latin America began at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes , Buenos Aires; then at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Córdoba, Château Carreras; then at the Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno, Mendoza; and finally at the Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales, Montevideo. In 1998 he created a ten-meter painted steel sculpture for the city of San Benedetto del Tronto, "Work Work Work, I Prefer the Sound of the Sea."

Since 2000

Nespolo+Napoli retrospective exhibition at Palazzo Reale , Naples, curated by Flavio Caroli. In early 2001, he returned to the cinema with Film/a/To, starring Edoardo Sanguineti and presented at the Centre Pompidou , Paris. Solo exhibition in Fukui as part of Italy in Japan 2001 . In 2002 he began his work on the decoration of the twenty-six stations of the new Turin Metro .

In 2003, solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in Moscow; Russian Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg and the National Museum in Minsk . After an exhibition at the Italian Cultural Institute , Paris; two solo exhibitions during the Locarno Film Festival followed in the autumn by a large solo exhibition at theNational Museum of China , Beijing. 2004 begins with a solo exhibition at the M.K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum , Vilnius, Lithuania; then exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, Canton; and at the Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou. 2005 begins with a solo exhibition at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli , Milan; and with the making of the film Italiana per Cinecittà starring Giancarlo Giannini . In 2007, the Puccini Festival Foundation entrusted him with the creation of the sets and costumes for Madama Butterfly . In the same year, he designed the Drappellone for the Palio d'Agosto in Siena and held a solo exhibition in the Palazzo Pubblico della Città. In 2008, he had a solo exhibition at the Walter Wickiser Gallery , New York. The National Cinema Museum in Turin is staging an anthological exhibition of his cinematic work. He participates in the exhibition Italics: Italian Art between Tradition and Revolution, 1968–2008 at Palazzo Grassi , Venice, which then travels to the Museum of Contemporary Art , Chicago. In 2009 the National Museum of Bargello , Florence, dedicated an anthology to him, Novantiqua , with forty works. In May 2011, the solo exhibition La bella intolerancia was held at the National Museum of Fine Arts , Havana, Cuba. On October 21 of the same year, Nespolo took over the position of President of the National Museum of Cinema , a position he held until 2014. In May 2012, his solo exhibition was held at the Museum Nasional Indonesia , Jakarta. In June, he had an exhibition at the Art Centre Bahrain National Museum . In July of the same year, his exhibition The Golden Number was held at the Leo Tolstoy Museum Yasnaya Polyana, Russia, and in October , The Years of the Avantgarde , a solo exhibition at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Turin. In December 2014, for the Spoleto Festival USA , Charleston; Nespolo designed sets and costumes for Francesco Cavalli 's baroque opera Veremonda, the Amazon of Aragon . In 2015, three major international events took place with film screenings at the Tate Modern , London; Centre Pompidou , Paris; and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection , Venice. "That's Life" is the title of his solo exhibition at the Puglisi Cosentino Foundation, Catania; 170 works are on display. In 2017, he created a 52-episode cartoon series for Rai Yoyo . The series won First Prize at Cartoons on the Bay . In June, he held a solo exhibition at the Contemporary Art Center of Montenegro (Dvorak Petrovica). From October 2017, he held a solo exhibition , "A modo mio," at the Saint-Bénin Center, Aosta. In 2018, he designed the historic calendar for the National Carabinieri . In February 2018, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the founding of the historic brand, Swatch organized Nespolo's solo exhibition entitled Numbers at the Cité du Temps in Geneva. The catalogue was conceived by mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi . From April 19 to May 25, the National Central Library , Florence, pays homage to Nespolo's publishing career with the exhibition The Triumph of Books . In May 2019, the Huangpu District , Shanghai, China, hosts a solo exhibition of Nespolo's cinema, titled Double Screen : Artist Film and Video from the Sixties. On January 29, 2019, the University of Turin awarded Nespolo an honorary degree in Philosophy. In July 2019, the retrospective exhibition Fuori dal coro opened at Palazzo Reale in Milan. In 2022 he designed the poster image for the fortieth Turin Film Festival .

Filmography

Ugo Nespolo also works extensively in the cinematographic field. He began exploring the world of cinema in the 1960s, becoming a point of reference in Italy for artistic cinema. As Nespolo writes on his website , "I set out with the Bell & Howell 16mm with the Angenieux Zoom to discover cinema and I was lucky. [...] At the time, I was thinking of a sort of "photographic theatre" full of improvisations and bizarre materials. The attempt was to land in a magical territory in perpetual, tireless movement, a game in short in which rationality was banished to leave room for a free, associative creation, sound and image, movement and colour, sense and nonsense. " ^[3]

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