Bruno Ceccobelli

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bruno Ceccobelli
Born (1952-09-02)2 September 1952
Montecastello di Vibio, Todi, Italy
Nationality Italian
Field Painting, Sculpture
Movement Scuola di San Lorenzo – New Rome School

Bruno Ceccobelli (born September 2, 1952 in Montecastello di Vibio, Todi, Italy) is an Italian painter and sculptor.

Life

Bruno Ceccobelli was born in Montecastello di Vibio, a small village in Umbria. His family soon moves to Todi and the town becomes his genius loci. After completing part of his school career, he moves to Rome, where he attends the Academy of Fine Arts under Toti Scialoja’s guidance, from whom he learns the theory and practice of abstraction. His art, which in some ways can be considered an inheritance from the Italian artist Alberto Burri, also from Umbria, and sharing some of Arte Povera characters, is part of a more general return to painting typical of his artistic generation (for example the Transavanguardia movement).[1] However, through the study of theosophy, alchemy and oriental philosophies, Bruno Ceccobelli comes to a spiritual and sacral symbolism, that differentiates him from the currents mentioned above. In this regard, he writes: "I do not want to be a market-fan artist, but to belong to all times, and this is why I believe in a foreseeing art, not just historical or literary or sociological or stylistic. I believe in a symbolic art, capable to offer a message and to pacify the world".[2] In the early '80s, along with other artists, he settles in the former Pastificio Cerere, a large abandoned industrial space located in the San Lorenzo quarter (Rome). The group, known as New Roman School or San Lorenzo Workshop,[3] includes also Piero Pizzi Cannella, Marco Tirelli, Giuseppe Gallo, Gianni Dessì, Nunzio Di Stefano and Domenico Bianchi. The Italian art critic Achille Bonito Oliva writes that these artists are "all bearers of individual poetics and all streams towards a common aesthetic mentality and a moral vision of art".[4] In 1975 he takes part for the first time to a group exhibition in the Town Hall of Albach (Austria) and, two years later, he has his first solo exhibition at the “Alternative Space” Gallery in Rome, where he exhibits works of conceptual art and participates in two group exhibitions at “La Stanza”, an independent space self-managed by young artists.

In the following years he has a number of international exhibitions: in 1979 at the Festival of Italian Culture in Belgrade and, subsequently, some group exhibitions in France, Germany and Croatia. In particular, at Yvon Lambert in Paris he exposes Morpheus, "a work divided into different elements, which are linked together by a symbolic cohesion".[5]

In 1980 he is invited to the Biennale des Jeunes in Paris, and later on he is invited by Ugo Ferranti (Rome) and Ivon Lambert (Paris) (1981). In 1983 he has his solo exhibition at Salvatore Ala (New York).

In 1984 the art critic Achille Bonito Oliva curates the exhibition Ateliers, in which the artists living in “Pastificio Cerere” open their ateliers to the public. It is the consolidation of the San Lorenzo Group on the international art scene. In the same year, Bruno Ceccobelli is invited to the Venice Biennale, joining the Aperto '84 section.

In 1986 he is invited for the second time to the Venice Biennale in the Art and Alchemy section curated by the art critic Arturo Schwarz.

The ‘80s end up with many international exhibitions: in 1985 in New York, at Gian Enzo Sperone Westwater and in 1988 with a triple exhibition: in New York at Jack Shainmann, in Rome at Centro Culturale Ausoni, and in Madrid at Mar Estrada Gallery. For this exhibitions the Italian art critic Italo Mussa edits the first systematic catalogue: Le figure, le case, i pozzi, ovvero La vita delle Ombre nei Recinti Sacri (De Luca Editori d'Arte, Rome 1988). In 1989 Bruno Ceccobelli is in Paris (Yvon Lambert), London (Mayor Rowan) and Barcelona (Thomas Carstens). The '90s start with exhibitions in Germany, Austria, Canada and Italy. In 1994 he is invited to give a training course at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Artes in Senegal, an experience that will leave a deep influence in his life showing him once again value of simple life and exasperations of modern civilization. In 1996 he is invited to La Quadriennale di Roma, and in 1999 Arturo Schwarz curates the exhibition Trascorsi d'Asfalto at the Guastalla Gallery in Livorno. In the same year he wins the contest "Project Art Rome", consisting in decorating Rome metro station: he realizes a large mosaic at EUR Fermi station. The year 2000 opens up with the creation, on the occasion of the Jubilee, of the bronze doors of the Terni Cathedral. In 2002 he holds the important exhibition Classico Eclettico at the Archaeological Museum of Villa Adriana in Tivoli, where some of his marble sculptures and other works interact with artifacts of the classical roman period. In 2004 he creates in Gibellina the mosaic “Eternity is the true healer”, side by side with the tormented Sicilian land, with works of numerous protagonists of contemporary art.

Bussa te, 2003 - Mixed media on wood panel, diam. 52cm

In 2005 he is appointed Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia, but after one year he leavs the charge in order to devote himself entirely to the artistic production. In 2006 he exhibits sculptures in marble in Pietrasanta and Verona, and he participates in the exhibition San Lorenzo at Villa Medici in Rome. In 2007 he produces the installation Longa marcia post-temporale at Volume! Foundation in Rome. In 2008 he creates the installation Invasi, which is exposed at Pastificio Cerere, in which he reminds us that man is a spirit encased in a body vessel and, therefore, inveselled since his origins by the divine. In 2005 he is appointed Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia, but after one year he leaves the task in order to devote himself entirely to the artistic production. In 2006 he exhibits marble sculptures in Pietrasanta and Verona, and he participates in the exhibition San Lorenzo at Villa Medici in Rome. In 2007 he produces the installation “Longa marcia post-temporale" at Volume! Foundation in Rome. In 2008 he creates the installation “Invasi”, which is exposed at Pastificio Cerere, in which he reminds us that man is a spirit encased in a body vessel and, therefore, “inveselled” since his origins by the divine.

In 2009 he proposes the installation Attici Unici at L'Attico Gallery held by Fabio Sargentini. Each visitor is invited to enter into large bags hanging from the ceiling, interacting with them on a path that leads him to explore the symbolic meaning of the four elements (water, air, earth and fire), that leads him to human wholeness. He also takes part to Natalis in Urbe with an installation inside the Basilica S. Maria sopra Minerva (Rome). In 2009 the Museum of Contemporary Art MaRT of Rovereto presents the first retrospective exhibition dedicated to the Officina San Lorenzo, which traces the history of one of the most vital artistic groups of the last part of the twentieth century. The exhibition catalogue, accompanied by texts and a large critical apparatus, is published by Silvana Editorale and edited by Daniela Lancioni.[6]

Più in meno, 2002 - Mixed media on wood structure, 142x103cm (open)

In 2010 he holds in Rome the exhibition San Lorenzo: Limen, la soglia dell'arte, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, and he takes part to the XVI Biennial of Contemporary Religious Art organized by the Stauròs Foundation. In the same year R. Rodriguez curates the significant exhibition In carta sogni. Opere su carta 1980-2010, which for the first time gives a systematic presentation of Bruno Ceccobelli's main graphic works. In recent years, after a career spent almost entirely in Rome, Bruno Ceccobelli has decided to return to Montemolino (Todi), where he lives in an old watchtower dating back to the eleventh Century.

Literary works

Since the beginning of his carrier Bruno Ceccobelli has accompanied his artistic work with literary writings, that now are collected into four books:

  • L'arte del possibile reale, ed. by L. Marucci, Stamperia dell'Arancio, Grottammare-Ascoli Piceno 1994;
  • Color Bellezza, ed. by N. Micieli, Il Grandevetro-Jaca Book, Pisa 2002;
  • Tempo senza tempo della pittura, De Luca Editori d'Arte, Roma 2005;
  • Gratiaplena. Economia della grazia, ed. by M. Bastianelli, Effe Fabrizio Fabbri Editore, Perugia 2008, 2011.
Gratiaplena, 2008 - mixed media on wood panel, 50,5x40x6

His ideas bring vital lymph towards his artistic works and, at the same time, substance them. They are all focused on the rescue of a full spirituality, according to which each man is seen both as a part and the synthesis of a natural universe crossed by cycling and re-cycling energies. Recently such concept has gained accuracy thanks to the influence of the Christian doctrine of Grace, considered from the point of view of a particular naturalism that feeds the idea of a possible appearance of a new economy based on the gift. Under this perspective, the artist has the chance to bring a message, which is in some ways prophetic, and, thanks to his spiritual vision, he allows us to imagine and to draw a new society formed by “uomini minimi” linked together by symbols (an idea that he takes from father Jacopone da Todi’s “nichilitate”). "In the State of Grace", Bruno Ceccobelli writes in Gratiaplena, "there will be no more economy, it will be replaced by abundance: in the art of subsistence, in which the true richness and power are generosity and virtue, there is the gift, abundance for everybody"[7]

Bruno Ceccobelli in museums and private collections

Notes

  1. ↑ Gramiccia, Roberto (2005). La nuova scuola romana. I sei di via degli Ausoni. Rome: Editori Riuniti. pp. 67–68. 
  2. ↑ Lottini, Otello (2003). Classico eclettico. Rome: Il Cigno. p. 54. 
  3. ↑ Gigliotti, Guglielmo (2011). Sei storie romane. Rome: Edizioni Carte Segrete. p. 19. 
  4. ↑ Bonito Oliva, Achille (2009). Stati di grazia nella Scuola di San Lorenzo. Milan: Silvana Editoriale. p. 13. 
  5. ↑ Lancioni, Daniela (2009). Gli artisti di San Lorenzo. Milan: Silvana Editoriale. p. 33. 
  6. ↑ Lancioni, Daniela (2009). Italia Contemporanea. Officina San Lorenzo. Milan: Silvana Editoriale. 
  7. ↑ B. Ceccobelli, Gratiaplena. Economia della Grazia, ed. by M. Bastianelli, Effe Fabrizio Fabbri Editore, Perugia 2011, p. 56

References

  • R. Gramiccia, La Nuova Scuola Romana. I sei artisti di via degli Ausoni, Editori Riuniti, Rome 2005.
  • O. Celestino, 11 Storie. Pastificio Cerere andata e ritorno, Carlo Cambi Editore, Poggibonsi 2007.
  • D. Lancioni (a cura), Italia Contemporanea. Officina San Lorenzo, texts by G. Belli, A. Bonito Oliva, D. Lancioni, F. Bacci, N. De Pisapia and M. De Pilati. With a bibliographical apparatus by P. Bonani; catalogue of the exhibition at the Museum Mart in Rovereto, from 16 May to 27 September 2009; Silvana Editoriale, Milan 2009.
  • D. Guzzi, Sul filo della memoria, ENPALS-Editori Laterza, Bari 2010.
  • G. Gigliotti, Sei storie. Tirelli, Pizzi Cannella, Ceccobelli, Nunzio, Gallo, Dessì, Edizioni Carte Segrete, Rome 2011.

External links

Category:Art Informel and Tachisme painters Category:1952 births Category:Umbrian painters Category:Italian painters of the 20th century Category:Italian sculptors Category:People from Todi

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.