Gastone Biggi. Painting Takes It Seriously. This solo exhibition, dedicated to one of the most radical and original figures of postwar Italian art, stands out as the most comprehensive anthology ever organized by a contemporary art gallery.
ABC-ARTE presents, in its historic Genoese venue, Gastone Biggi. Painting Takes It Seriously.
This solo exhibition, dedicated to one of the most radical and original figures of postwar Italian art, stands out as the most comprehensive anthology ever organized by a contemporary art gallery.
The show offers an in-depth look at the pictorial research of Gastone Biggi (Rome, 1925 – Tordenaso di Langhirano, 2014), a pivotal figure for understanding the complexity and richness of an art that consistently rejected dogma and simplification.
The phrase that gives the exhibition its title does not belong to Biggi himself, but to Piero Dorazio, who in 1967 dedicated an important text to his friend.
Following the experience of Gruppo Uno—formed in 1962 with Frascà, Santoro, Pace, Carrino, and Uncini, marking the beginning of their research into the fundamental structures of artistic practice—Biggi focused on the primary formal qualities of the artwork, playing a crucial role in overcoming the aesthetics of Informalism.
The exhibition presents a cohesive selection of eloquent examples from the various phases of Biggi’s career, which evolved in parallel with an intense theoretical and publishing activity—from Poetica della percezione (1964) to Bisny. From Byzantium to New York (1975), to the Manifesto of Abstract Realism (2005)—as well as a biography marked by frequent relocations of home and studio, and close ties with fellow musicians and architects.
An tireless experimenter, always striving to uncover the deeper reasons behind artistic creation and Gestalt, Biggi stands out for his fervent and complete intellectual stature. His paintings are among the highest expressions of the European avant-garde in the postwar period.
The exhibition has been made possible thanks to the invaluable collaboration of the Gastone Biggi Foundation, established in 2015.
On the occasion of the exhibition, a bilingual publication will be released by ABC-ARTE Edizioni, featuring the curator's essay along with critical and documentary materials kindly provided by the Gastone Biggi Foundation, including writings by Aldo Clementi, Cesare Vivaldi, Elena Pontiggia, Paolo Fossati, and Piero Dorazio.
The exhibition will be on view from September 24 to December 6, 2025, at ABC-ARTE’s Genoese venue.
The opening reception will take place on Wednesday, September 24 at 6:30 PM, at Via XX Settembre 11 A, Genoa.
