Milan, at Palazzo Reale the largest ever exhibition on Agostino Bonalumi

From July 13 to September 30, 2018, Palazzo Reale in Milan will host the exhibition Bonalumi 1958 - 2013, which brings together 120 works by Agostino Bonalumi (Vimercate, 1935 - Desio, 2013) the great Milanese artist who is among the leading 20th-century artists in Italy. From his debut, which took place around 1959, to the recent rediscovery of his art, the exhibition will focus in particular on Bonalumi’s work between 1967 and the 1970s, a period that saw the creation of environmental works, also of considerable size, such as installations and stage sets.

Present in the exhibition are 120 works by Bonalumi (some of them, as mentioned, of large dimensions), which are arranged along the entire span of his career, from his debut in Milan together with artists of the caliber of Enrico Castellani and Piero Manzoni, through the 1960s in contact with major European artists, to his recent re-evaluation. The exhibition can be regarded as the most comprehensive ever dedicated to Bonalumi.

An excerpt, lasting 12 minutes out of the total 60, of the documentary Agostino Bonalumi. The Intelligence of Materials (2018), made by Archivio Bonalumi and Zenit Arti Audiovisive, directed by Fabrizio Galatea and art-historical direction by Francesca Pola, and which will be broadcast in its entirety by Sky Arte HD on September 18, 2018. Again from July 13 to September 30, 2018, the Museo del Novecento in Milan will dedicate to Bonalumi a focus entitled Agostino Bonalumi. Space, Environment, Project, concerning a little-known aspect of his research, the one that between 1967 and the late 1970s led him to think, design and create environmental works, often of considerable size. A series of eight works on paper, made just short of the environmental works, will be on display, revealing the accuracy and precision of his constant thinking about space.

The exhibition is part of the path by which Palazzo Reale, for the third year in a row, explores contemporary art in its summer programming, strengthening this year’s proposal with the collaboration of the Museo del Novecento and thus presenting the city with four artists to narrate the creativity of our times: Agostino Bonalumi, Alik Cavaliere and Pino Pinelli at Palazzo Reale, Agostino Ferrari at the Museo del Novecento.

Marco Meneguzzo, curator of the exhibition, says, "Agostino Bonalumi belongs to that generation that took a lot from Lucio Fontana, but managed to give a sense of space in an absolutely modern way, just as his two friends and sodalists, Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani, had done, while each maintaining his own, clearly recognizable expressive style. Bonalumi found the key to give an image of art closely adherent to the society that was forming, finally opening up to true modernity, continuing to experiment until the end of his days."

Promoted by the Municipality of Milan - Culture, Palazzo Reale, Museo del Novecento in collaboration with theBonalumi Archive, the exhibition will be accompanied by a Silvana Editoriale catalog with an essay by the curator and an unpublished text by Philip Rylands, former director of the Guggenheim Foundation in Venice, as well as accompanied by all the scientific apparatus necessary to make the volume a fundamental tool for understanding the artist.
The catalog will be published in two separate editions, one Italian and one English, underlining the artist’s international vocation.

Hours: Mondays from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Thursdays and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Admission is free of charge. For all information you can visit www.palazzorealemilano.it.

Pictured: Agostino Bonalumi, Blu (1992; extroflexed canvas and acrylic, 114 x 146 cm)

Milan, at Palazzo Reale the largest ever exhibition on Agostino Bonalumi

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