MICHELANGELO PISTOLETTO

Michelangelo Pistoletto is an Italian painter, performer, and theorist. Best known for his innovative stainless-steel paintings with mirrored surfaces, he produced pioneering performances and sculptural installations. His work reflects on the unification of art and everyday life in terms of the total artwork, with an interest in the use of “poor” and waste materials; indeed, he is considered one of the main artists of the Italian Arte Povera art movement. In 1960 Pistoletto held his first solo exhibition of figurative and portrait painting in Turin. He rose to international prominence with the Minus Objects series of sculptures (1966). That work, together with a series of mirror paintings, won him first prize at the São Paulo Art Biennial. Pistoletto has held solo exhibitions in institutions around the world, including the Tate Modern in London and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 1998 he founded in Biella Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto: a center for the study and promotion of creativity in all its forms, in line with his interdisciplinary approach. Pistoletto has received numerous prizes and awards.