Lugano
Agostino Bonalumi was born on 10 July 1935 in Vimercate, Brianza. His passion for painting manifested itself from a very young age: when he was only thirteen, one of his works was selected to participate in the Premio Nazionale Città di Vimercate. After studying technical and mechanical drawing in Milan, a city that soon became the focus of his artistic life, he came into contact with central figures of the Italian avant-garde such as Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani. With them, he exhibited for the first time in 1958 at the Galleria Pater in Milan, leading to a series of exhibitions also in Rome and Lausanne, where he was among the founders of the New European School movement.
After the end of his collaboration with Manzoni and Castellani, Bonalumi developed an autonomous artistic voice, reaching maturity with his famous extroflexed canvases, a technique that he began experimenting with at the end of 1959 and that was to become the hallmark of his research. Between 1962 and 1963, his method was consolidated and in 1964 he signed a contract with gallery owner Arturo Schwarz, with whom he opened a solo exhibition in his gallery in February 1965. From this point onwards, Bonalumi exhibited continuously in some of the most important Italian galleries and took part in prestigious international exhibitions, including the 33rd Venice Biennale (1966), the São Paulo Biennale (1967) and the 35th Venice Biennale (1970) with a solo exhibition that marked the beginning of his recognition at international level.
In the 1970s, the artist deepened the spatial dimension of his work, overcoming the two-dimensionality of the canvas with environmental interventions. These include works such as “Blu abitabile”, created for the exhibition Lo Spazio dell’immagine, and “Dal giallo al bianco e dal bianco al giallo” for the exhibition Pittura ambiente. During this period Bonalumi consolidated his position within the international art scene, with exhibitions in Brussels, Singapore, Moscow and New York, and at the same time expanded his research with side projects: he wrote poetry, elaborated theoretical reflections and created stage sets for ballet performances.
Bonalumi passed away on 18 September 2013 in Monza, having missed his major solo exhibition at Robilant+Voena in London, which opened on 4 October 2013.