Gilberto Zorio

Gilberto Zorio (1944, Adorno Micca, Italy) is an Italian artist associated with the Italian movement Arte Povera. He studied at the Scuola di Arte e di Ceramica and later at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Turin, Italy (1963-1970). Zorio began by studying painting but switched to sculpture and held his first solo sculpture exhibition in 1967 at the Galleria Sperone in Turin. 

His sculptures, paintings and performances are often interpreted as metaphors of revolutionary human action, transformative energy, and creativity. Zorio's work emphasizes natural processes and alchemical transformation, exploring phenomena such as evaporation or oxidation and the effects produced on materials by such chemical changes. The artist tends to suspend or balance the various components of his installations, of precarious nature, in order to suggest the tensions and transience from the real and material world.

Zorio has a long history of exhibitions in galleries and museums, among which we highlight the most relevant exhibitions: Gilberto Zorio. Per purificare le parole, Brick Centro per la ricerca e la cultura contemporanea, Siena, Italy (2012); 2010 Gilberto Zorio, X Y Zorio, Macro, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy (2010); Gilberto Zorio, CGAC–Centro Galego de Arte Contempora´nea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2010);Gilberto Zorio, MAMbo–Museo d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy  (2009); Du Creux de l’enfer au creux du Vesuvio, Le Creux de l’enfer Centre d’Art Contemporain, Thiers, France (2005); Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (1986, 1990, 1997, 2013); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (1981, 1986, 1990, 1996, 2000, 2016).

His work is featured in important international collections, among them: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy; Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA; Guggenheim Museum, Venice, Italy; IVAM, Valencia, Spain; Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan; Serralves Foundation, Porto, Portugal.

PS, dezembro 2020