Enrico Castellani

Enrico Castellani is considered one of the most important personaities in the European art during the second half of the XX century.

He studied art, sculpture and architecture in Belgium until 1956, when he graduated at École Nationale Superieure. One year later he came back to Italy, Milan, where he became one of the major figures in the new Italian artistic scene: after his first experiences inspired by American Action Painting, in particular by Mark Tobey, he started a collaboration with Piero Manzoni founding the avant-garde magazine Azimuth.

This original experience is considered of great importance in the international art scene: it claimed to introduce a new beginning in the artistic experience, far from any traditional rules; these artists developed their artistic research that consists of monochrome everted canvases which created a vibrating effect on the surface, under the changing light.

Castellani analyses different possibilities through the use of nails and ribs placed behind the canvas and, in 1959, he created his first Superficie.