Rodolfo Aricò
Rodolfo Aricò (3 June 1930 – 22 June 2002) was an Italian painter and theatre set designer. Biography. Rodolfo Aricò was born in Milan on 3 June 1930. He attended the Brera Liceo artistico from 1946 to 1950, where famed art critic and curator Guido Ballo was one of his professors. He then studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan. In 1957 he held his first solo exhibition at the Galleria Bergamini in Milan, which was followed shortly thereafter by another solo show at the Salone Annunciata in Milan in 1959. At the XXXII Venice Biennale in 1964 , Aricò exhibited the work "Trittico dellaistenza". The Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Roma became one of the first institutions to add his work to their collection when they acquired "Le “simultanee forme” di Delaunay" in 1965. He was invited again to present at the Venice Biennale in 1968. The following year, Deson-Zacks Gallery in Chicago hosted a solo exhibition of Aricò's work. He continued to exhibit extensively and expand his oeuvre. In the early 1970s, Aricò explored reinterpretations of traditional art history concepts and architectural archetypes. He began using thin layers of spray paint, superimposed in drops of  color to create a final monochrome result. During the 1980s, Aricò was invited to exhibit at the Venice Biennale, both in 1980 and 1986. The artist's solo exhibitions during the 1990s reflect more on the relationship with space, understood as "drama" and an element of materiality in the making. Along with his artworks, Aricò also intensified his theoretical activity, combining the writings inherent to his work with visionary and fantastic tales of an autobiographical nature. From 1979 to 2000 Aricò was professor of theatre and set design at the Brera Academy in Milan. Aricò died in Milan on 22  June 2002. In 2005, the Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt held a major retrospective of his work. Aricò's works have been collected by Irish Museum of Modern Art and Peggy Guggenheim Collection. References. Guggenheim Venice: Rodolfo Aricò