Italian painter known for his adventurous
use of new materials.Born in Cittá di Castello
in 1915, he was trained as a physician and began to
paint only in 1944,while in a prisoner-of-war camp
in Texas.About 1946 he moved to Rome
and began to paint seriously.
His early works-rags splashed in red paint
to simulate blood-soaked bandages-grew
directly out of his experiences as a doctor
in the Italian army .He then began to produce works
grouped into series according to the material
used. The works of the earliest series(c.1953)
were made of coarse cloth stitched together.
After 1956 he employed thin pieces of burned
wood and layers of polyethylene in which
holes were burned,creating a rich spatial
network within the layers of plastic.
The humble and sometimes crude materials used
in these works contrast effectively with
their elegant designs,and the easily
destroyed materials form a perforated network
over an impinging background field.
In his series of metal work done after 1959,
however,the solid material completely encloses
the background field,although the metal is
hammered from behind as if the
imprisoned field were trying to break out.
