Pier Paolo
Calzolari

Pier Paolo Calzolari (b. 1943 in Bologna) was a fellow of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program (BKP) in 1973. Calzolari describes himself as an object-maker and a Conceptual artist; from the mid-1960s onward, he was one of the pioneers and leading representatives of Arte Povera. In 1969 he participated in the legendary exhibition Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form, curated by Harald Szeemann at the Kunsthalle Bern, which marked the beginning of his international career. In 1972 Calzolari took part in documenta 5 in Kassel, where his contribution was presented in the section “Individual Mythologies.” In his Arte Povera works, Calzolari employed a variety of natural materials to address themes such as contrast, transformation, and temporality; tobacco leaves, salt, fire, frost, copper, and lead are among the recurring elements. He has also created frozen structures that develop a light coating of frost on their surfaces over time, as the material undergoes a process of alchemical transformation. In his pictorial objects and performances, Calzolari has incorporated the luminosity of neon tubes as well as burn marks and other signs of injury. This can be seen, for example, in Acts of Passion, a series of nine actions he performed between 1968 and 1970. In the 1970s Calzolari focused on painting, creating monochrome planes of color in connection with objects such as roses or living creatures such as children, fish, and dogs. In the 1980s he developed a distinctive gestural and richly colored style of painting that incorporates mythical elements and symbols, and can be associated with the Transavanguardia movement. Pier Paolo Calzolari was a professor of painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Urbino from 1966 to 1970, and again from 2002 to 2003.

In 1973/74 Calzolari took part in an exhibition organized by the Artists-in-Berlin Program at the Beethoven-Halle in Bonn, entitled 30 internationale Künstler in Berlin. He contributed his work Usura: amore e misericordia (1972–74), which is comprised of fourteen photographs. Calzolari took part in documenta 5 and 9 (1972 and 1992) and in the 38th, 39th, and 44th Venice Biennale (1978, 1980, and 1990). His most recent retrospective, entitled Painting as a Butterfly, was held in 2019 at the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina in Naples.

Text: Eva Scharrer

Translation: Jacqueline Todd