Via Dante Alighieri 4, 6830 Chiasso
The exhibition is part of the strand of 20th and 21st century masters and focuses on the work of the Florentine master Giuliano Vangi (1931), with particular reference to the study of drawing and graphics in space in relation to sculpture. The artist elaborates and expresses his feelings and impressions using a medium that combines thought and execution: drawing, which in turn is transformed, at the end of the creative process, into sculpture. Vangi’s creative force led him to experiment with different graphic etching techniques including etching, burin, aquatint and drypoint, a technique he considered ideal. The sign or grapheion, as a creative and original act, leads him to redraw and rework the same theme several times, so that the graphics express the artist’s entire poetics. In order to elaborate his art, Vangi draws directly from life, and is able to convey his own intellectual and sentimental code of great stature.
On display at Spazio Officina are more than one hundred study drawings in pencil and Indian ink with white lead and watercolours, in small and large formats, and a bronze sculpture. In particular, a selection of his graphic production will be exhibited from 1944, the year in which he began to make academic drawings, to 2023, with works of great emotional value: a total of eighty years of artistic activity, which makes this exhibition unique. A section of the exhibition will be at the Villa Pontiggia Seminar Centre in Breganzona, in whose park there are two sculptures by Vangi and a series of drawings in the wooden pavilion designed by Mario Botta.
From a young age, Giuliano Vangi demonstrated a strong artistic ability and passion that led him to create drawings imbued with technical and formal knowledge. He trained at the Porta Romana Art Institute and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. From the beginning, he dedicated himself completely to sculpture as a pupil of Bruno Innocenti. From 1950 to 1958 he moved to Pesaro, where he taught at the city’s Art Institute. In 1959 he moved to São Paulo, Brazil, and devoted himself to abstract research, working on crystals and metals. In 1962 he returned to Italy and taught at the Art Institute in Cantù.
His artistic production was exhibited in 1967 at the Strozzina in Palazzo Strozzi, an event that was to be followed by a rich series of exhibitions in various European cities: Stuttgart, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and London. In 1983 he won the prize of the Accademia di San Luca and then the Feltrinelli prize for sculpture at the Accademia dei Lincei. In 1988 he took his works to the East for the first time in an exhibition in Tokyo, at Gallery Universe. In 1994 he was appointed Honorary Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara. In 2002 Vangi received the Praemium Imperiale for sculpture. A museum was dedicated to the artist, now internationally renowned, in Mishima, Japan, displaying around a hundred of his works.
On display at Spazio Officina are more than one hundred study drawings in pencil and Indian ink with white lead and watercolours, in small and large formats, and a bronze sculpture. In particular, a selection of his graphic production will be exhibited from 1944, the year in which he began to make academic drawings, to 2023, with works of great emotional value: a total of eighty years of artistic activity, which makes this exhibition unique. A section of the exhibition will be at the Villa Pontiggia Seminar Centre in Breganzona, in whose park there are two sculptures by Vangi and a series of drawings in the wooden pavilion designed by Mario Botta.
From a young age, Giuliano Vangi demonstrated a strong artistic ability and passion that led him to create drawings imbued with technical and formal knowledge. He trained at the Porta Romana Art Institute and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. From the beginning, he dedicated himself completely to sculpture as a pupil of Bruno Innocenti. From 1950 to 1958 he moved to Pesaro, where he taught at the city’s Art Institute. In 1959 he moved to São Paulo, Brazil, and devoted himself to abstract research, working on crystals and metals. In 1962 he returned to Italy and taught at the Art Institute in Cantù.
His artistic production was exhibited in 1967 at the Strozzina in Palazzo Strozzi, an event that was to be followed by a rich series of exhibitions in various European cities: Stuttgart, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and London. In 1983 he won the prize of the Accademia di San Luca and then the Feltrinelli prize for sculpture at the Accademia dei Lincei. In 1988 he took his works to the East for the first time in an exhibition in Tokyo, at Gallery Universe. In 1994 he was appointed Honorary Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara. In 2002 Vangi received the Praemium Imperiale for sculpture. A museum was dedicated to the artist, now internationally renowned, in Mishima, Japan, displaying around a hundred of his works.