• 

Agostino Bonalumi (1935-2013) was an Italian painter and sculptor. He was a leading figure of the Italian avantgarde, exploring the plasticity of the canvas in his object paintings and contributing to the emergence of irregularly shaped canvases in the postwar period.

Bonalumi studied mechanical drawing and his first works were exhibited at the Premio Nazionale Città di Vimercate at the very young age of 13. Eight years later, his first true solo show was displayed at the Galleria Totti, Milan.

He had very strong links with the German art scene and was an ally of the German group Zero, with many exhibitions internationally. Bonalumi - along with peers and friends Enrico Castellani and Piero Manzoni - was inspired by Lucio Fontana’s sliced canvases. He elaborated upon Fontana’s work, developing what he called extroflexions - intricate stretchers that molded his vinyl-coated monochromatic canvases and suggested a force pushing out from underneath. He also started to develop his idea of the 'pittura - oggetto' (painting-object) influenced by Fontana. In the 1960s, Bonalumi expanded his materials to include metals, and he enlarged the scale of his work, ultimately creating installations.

He has exhibited in Milan, at the Venice Biennale three times, the São Paulo Biennial, Galeria Bonino (New York), Palazzo dei Muesi (Italy), Fort Launderdale Museum of Art (Florida), the Rome Quadriennale, the European Parliament (Brussels), Gagosian Gallery (London) and many more.

“My generation lived through the academy of the Arte Informel, when it was triumphant, and at a certain point that expressiveness which was purely appearance and not form, was not enough”, Bonalumi, who thrice exhibited in the Venice Biennale, once said.