Gino Marotta Biography
Gino Marotta (Campobasso, 20 June 1935 – Rome, 16 November 2012) was an Italian painter and sculptor active in contemporary art. Born in Campobasso in 1935, he lived and worked for many years in Rome. In his first personal exhibition, in 1957 in Milan, he exhibited tapestries, encaustics and veils, followed by lead, aluminum and bandoni (iron sheets found and assembled) which he presented in Rome at the Galleria Appunto and in Milan at the Galleria dell'Ariete, in 1959. In the laboratories of the chemical industries, factories and foundries, he experiments with new materials such as polyurethanes and polyesters and creates sculptures using industrial processes for mass production. The vocation for the use of new materials continues in the sculptures cut out of methacrylate which soon transform into Environments such as the Bosco Naturale-Artificiale (1967), the Nuovo Paradiso (1968), the Artificial Eden (1969) and Misura Naturale Cava ( 1970). In 1968 he participated in the Il Teatro delle Mostre exhibition at the La Tartaruga gallery in Rome with the installation Foresta di menta, a long series of green threads made from plastic materials that give the impression of hanging lianas. From the same year is Giardino all'italiana, an intervention of an urban nature, in which he arranges hay bales, during the event organized by Germano Celant in Amalfi on Arte Povera. He took part in some of the most interesting exhibitions of contemporary Italian art such as The Space of the Image in Foligno in 1967, "Amore Mio" in Montepulciano in 1970 and "Vitalità del Negativo" at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome in 1970-71. The exhibition Ceroli, Kounellis, Marotta, Pascali: 4 artistes italiens plus que nature at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Palazzo del Louvre, Paris, dates back to 1969. He was invited to the IX Quadrennial in Rome (1965-66) and later, in 1972 to the X Quadrennial with the installation General introduction to nature. The anthological exhibition at the Rotonda della Besana in Milan dates back to 1973, together with the exhibition of the work-environment Eden Artificiale in the Gardens of the and other. In 1984 he participated with The Ruins of the Island of Altilia at the XLI International Art Exhibition in Venice. Some of his works, including the methacrylate sculpture Tree of Life, are part of the Farnesina Collection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and were subsequently exhibited in the exhibitions: Italian Art 1950-1970. Masterpieces from the Farnesina Collection, Italian Art 1950-1970. Masterpieces from the Farnesina Collection curated by Maurizio Calvesi, Lorenzo Canova and Renato Miracco, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, 2005. Italian signals from the Contemporary Art Collection at the Farnesina curated by Maurizio Calvesi and Lorenzo Canova, Belgrade, Galleria dell 'Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2005. In 2007 Journey into Italian Art 1950-1980. One hundred works from the Farnesina Collection. Traveling exhibition curated by Maurizio Calvesi and Lorenzo Canova. National Gallery of Modern Art, Sarajevo (May); National Museum of Foreign Art, Sofia (June); Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (July); Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu (September-October); MNAC National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest (November-December); Wilanow Palace Museum Warsaw (December-January) and in 2008 Journey into Italian Art 1950-1980. One hundred works from the Farnesina Collection, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Lima, Caracas, and Guadalajara. In 2005 he participated in the collective Burri, gli artists e la materia 1945-2004 at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome. It is from 2007 Gino Marotta. Artificial Natural, PLOW, Archive of Electronic Arts, University of Molise, Campobasso branch curated by Lorenzo Canova, which marks the inauguration of the university's exhibition space, of which the artist from Campobasso is appointed honorary director. In Milan, the Giangaleazzo Visconti Studio sets up two solo exhibitions: Gino Marotta Anni Fifty (2007) and Gino Marotta amore amore (2009). In 2009, at the reopening of the MACRO in Rome, he exhibited for the first time the work Ricongnizione amministrazione della savana, a ten meters long installation that uses some of the most modern technologies such as LEDs and lasers. He collaborated on several architectural works including the façade of the Synagogue of Livorno (1960-1961), the ceiling of the RAI Palace in Rome (1964) and the stained glass window of the Bergamo Congress Center (1990-1991). Avant-garde cinema and theater saw him involved in numerous works such as the film Salome, the theatrical scenography of Nostra Signora dei Turchi (1972) and, over a decade later, the sets and costumes of Hommelette for Hamlet by Carmelo Bene , which earned him the Ubu award for best scenography in 1988. Friend of poets such as Ungaretti and Cardarelli, he created precious books with Emilio Villa, Giorgio Soavi and Antonio Delfini. He lived until his death, which occurred in 2012 at the age of 77, between Rome and Isola di Pievebovigliana in the Marche, but he never forgot his hometown, which dedicated to him, in the renovated Palazzo dell'Ex GIL, a exhibition one year after his death, curated by Lorenzo Canova.
