Pier Paolo Calzolari

Calzolari’s work is the least repetitive and predictable to be found in the art of the past fifty years. Similarly, his activity cannot be linked to preconceived schemes. For him art is a springboard towards transformation, making use of ephemeral and transient materials. Most recently a dialogue with history has become more pressing, a development of his aim of “creating meetings” which he had already spoken of in his 1969 essay La casa ideale.

The 2002 show at the Studio la Città was full of surprises: tables with objects floating in water and gold, white, and black monochrome paintings; an electric train bearing a saucepan of boiling soup and sheets of paper blackened by candle-smoke; an installation with clothes dancing in midair born aloft by clusters of balloons. Serenely variable modulations: dance, sculpture, and performance were led to new syntheses.
See biography

Available works

Installations

Available works


  • Senza titolo, 1973

    Salt on paper, cardboard, graphite, lead, iron tile, glass carafe, and goldfish
    80 x 55 x 15 cm


  • Senza titolo - Gesti, 1969

    Lead, copper, refrigerating structure, refrigerator motor, neon, transformer
    227 x 252 x 95 cm


  • Gravure blanche, 1994

    Etching on paper (four sheets), motor, wooden stick and plate, glass, and calla lily
    etching on paper
    192 x 350 cm installation
    350 x 279 x 199 cm


  • Tiara IV, 2007

    Stretcher with canvas painted in tempera grassa with milk, iron structure, small electric motor, linen cloth, gold pin, egg
    279 x 103 x 58 cm

Installations


  • Installation view, 2022

    Studio la Città at ArtVerona, Verona


  • Quello che non ho venduto..., 2019

    Installation view
    Studio la Città, Verona


  • Pier Paolo Calzolari, 2016

    Installation view
    Studio la Città, Verona


  • Installation view, 2016

    Studio la Città at Arte Fiera, Bologna


  • Pier Paolo Calzolari, 2002

    Installation view
    Studio la Città, Verona
    photo by Luca Carrà


  • Pier Paolo Calzolari, Fausto Melotti, Michelangelo Pistoletto, 2004

    Installation view
    Studio la Città, Verona