Giovanni Anselmo

August 5, 1934

Borgofranco D'ivrea, Piemonte, Italy

Giovanni worked as a painter early on in his career. From 1954 to 1964 he devoted himself to painting, but in 1965 he turned to the creation of objects inspired by observation of natural events and energies, which he exhibited in 1967 at the Galleria Sperone in Turin. In 1968 he joined the Arte Povera movement, embodying actions or ideas through combinations of contrasting and opposed materials (that didn't involved industrial process, which is why the movement was called Arte Povera, "poor art"), whose weight, gravity and vigour he explored. In 1972 Giovanni turned to words and their immateriality to explore the relationship between abstract categories of thought, such as general and particular, finite and infinite, culture and nature, the passing of historical time and the hypothesis of the eternity of universal physical laws, the routine of experience and the abstraction of philosophical principles. He took part in Documenta 5 and 7, organized at Kassel in 1972 and in 1982. In 1995 and 1996 there was a retrospective exhibition of his work in Santiago de Compostela, Spain and in Nice, France. The Museo d'Arte Moderna in Bologna (MamBo) held in 2006 a wide-ranging anthological exhibition conceived by the artist as a total work. Today, the artist’s works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Turin, among others.

Giovanni Anselmo

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artist sculptor

Background

Giovanni Anselmo was born on August 5, 1934 in Borgofranco D'ivrea, Piemonte, Italy.

Education

Anselmo is largely self-taught.

Career

Giovanni worked as a painter early on in his career. From 1954 to 1964 he devoted himself to painting, but in 1965 he turned to the creation of objects inspired by observation of natural events and energies, which he exhibited in 1967 at the Galleria Sperone in Turin. In 1968 he joined the Arte Povera movement, embodying actions or ideas through combinations of contrasting and opposed materials (that didn't involved industrial process, which is why the movement was called Arte Povera, "poor art"), whose weight, gravity and vigour he explored.

In 1972 Giovanni turned to words and their immateriality to explore the relationship between abstract categories of thought, such as general and particular, finite and infinite, culture and nature, the passing of historical time and the hypothesis of the eternity of universal physical laws, the routine of experience and the abstraction of philosophical principles. He took part in Documenta 5 and 7, organized at Kassel in 1972 and in 1982.

In 1995 and 1996 there was a retrospective exhibition of his work in Santiago de Compostela, Spain and in Nice, France. The Museo d'Arte Moderna in Bologna (MamBo) held in 2006 a wide-ranging anthological exhibition conceived by the artist as a total work. Today, the artist’s works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Turin, among others.

Achievements

Giovanni Anselmo is known for his works that employ organic and inorganic materials to refer to the elemental laws and forces of nature. He is also highly famous as one of the founders of the radical Arte Povera movement in Italy in the 1960s.

Works

Oltremare A Ovest (Ultramarine to the West) Oltremare A Ovest (Ultramarine to the West)

Trecento Millioni di anni (Three Hundred Million Years) Trecento Millioni di anni (Three Hundred Million Years)

Il panorama verso Oltremare intorno e dove le stelle si avvicinano di una spanna in piu Il panorama verso Oltremare intorno e dove le stelle si avvicinano di una spanna in piu

$Verso L\'infinito (Towards Infinity) Verso L\'infinito (Towards Infinity)$ Untitled (Sculpture That Eats) Untitled (Sculpture That Eats)

$Studio per la mia ombra verso l\'infinito dalla cima dello Stromboli durante l\'alba del 16 agosto 1965 Studio per la mia ombra verso l\'infinito dalla cima dello Stromboli durante l\'alba del 16 agosto 1965$ Oltramare Oltramare

Grigi che si alleggeriscono verso oltremare Grigi che si alleggeriscono verso oltremare

painting
- Oltremare A Ovest (Ultramarine to the West)
- Trecento Millioni di anni (Three Hundred Million Years)
- Linea Terra
- Direzione
- Il panorama verso Oltremare intorno e dove le stelle si avvicinano di una spanna in piu
- Verso L'infinito (Towards Infinity)
- Untitled (Sculpture That Eats)
- Studio per la mia ombra verso l'infinito dalla cima dello Stromboli durante l'alba del 16 agosto 1965
- Oltramare
- Specchio
- Grigi che si alleggeriscono verso oltremare

Views

His striving for a universal energy and an idea of infinity led the artist to represent actions of approach and communication between different realities in sculptures which express a compressed force, blocked “at the limit”, at a moment of balance.

Quotations: “I, the world, things, life — we are points of energy, and it is not as necessary to crystallize these points as it is to keep them open and alive.”

Membership

Arte Povera Movement

Connections

colleague:: Alighiero Boetti
colleague:: Michelangelo Pistoletto

References

Giovanni Anselmo
2015
Giovanni Anselmo: Where The Stars Are Coming
2007
Giovanni Anselmo: Galleria civica Modena (Italian Edition)
1989
GIOVANNI ANSELMO
2015

Main Photo