Education
He studied at the Milan University law faculty and the Brera Academy of Artist
Enrico Baj with Alik Cavaliere
Enrico Baj at work, Imola, Italy, 1984
Enrico Baj in front of his works, 1964
He studied at the Milan University law faculty and the Brera Academy of Artist
He created prints, sculptures but especially collage. He was close to the surrealist and dada movements, and was later associated with CoBrA. As an author he has been described as a leading promoter of the avant-garde. He worked with Umberto Eco among other collaborators.
He had a long interest in the pseudo-philosophy "pataphysics.
He was born in Milan into a wealthy family, but left Italy in 1944 having upset the authorities and to avoid conscription. In 1951 he founded the arte nucleare movement with Sergio Dangelo, which unlike abstract art was overtly political.
Baj himself was aligned with the anarchist movement. His most well-known pieces are probably the series of "Generals": absurd characters made from found objects such as belts or medals.
He made numerous works using motifs from other artists, from Leonardo da Vinci to Picasso.
Sometimes he recreated entire works of other painters. In 1972 public display of a major work, "Funeral Of The Anarchist Pinelli" (a reference to Carlo Carrà"s famous painting The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli of 1911) was banned after the murder of the police officer believed to be responsible for Giuseppe Pinelli"s death in custody. However his work continued to be political.
In 1989 he designed thirty marionettes for Le bleu-blanc-rouge et le noir, an opera by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero to a libretto by Anthony Burgess, written for the bicentenary of the French Revolution.
In his last years he created a series of paintings in protest at the election of Silvio Berlusconi. He died in Vergiate, Italy.
Enrico Baj was a prolific artist who created a great number of the rebellion artworks criticizing the treats and different problems of the time, including political ones.
Along with Sergio Dangelo, the artist founded in 1951 the arte nucleare movement which gathered the artists whose art was against the use of nuclear power after the bombardments of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Enrico Baj’s heritage is now can be seen at many galleries and museums, among which are the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Tate Gallery in London.
College of "Pataphysics.
He was an Italian painter.
He was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramicist, and author.
He was a painter.
He was a painter.
He was a painter.
