Ugo Nespolo
Encyclopedia
Ugo Nespolo is an Italian
painter
and sculptor, particularly known for his experimental films, his applied arts works and his artistic collaborations in advertising, theater and literature.
under Enrico Paulucci and obtained a degree in Modern Literature at the University of Turin, with a thesis on Semiology.
His career as an artist started in the 1960s and his work was influenced by Pop Art
, which was becoming popular in Italy in those years, conceptual art
, Arte Povera
and Fluxus
, movements that he learned to appreciate during his frequent trips to the United States. After the first trip in 1967, he continued to regularly visit the States, where he spent long periods especially during th 1980s. Irony and transgression were part of his art and since then, and will characterise also all the rest of Nespolo's work in the years to come.
Since 2010 he has been in the Honour Committee of IMMAGINE&POESIA
, the artistic literary movement founded in Turin, Italy, with the patronage of Aeronwy Thomas
(Dylan Thomas
's daughter).
, Enrico Baj
, Michelangelo Pistoletto
and others appeared in his films. The film A.G. (1968) documents the visit in Turin of Allen Ginsberg
. In 2001 he directed Film/a/TO, interpreted by Edoardo Sanguineti
. Nespolo's films have been exhibited in institutions like the Beaubourg
in Paris, the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw's Filmoteka Polska and Ferrara's Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna. The activity in this field has been particularly intense during the 1970s and the 2000s. He has done about twenty films over forty years.
and Azzurra
are the most famous - and realised title sequences for shows on the Italian television RAI
. In 2002, Nespolo was appointed artistic coordinator for the Metropolitana di Torino
, with the aim of realising the first "underground museum of modern art". Several underground stations are decorated with his glass etchings and images.
’s opera Turandot
at Connecticut Grand Opera
, Stamford
, the first of several other works for the theatre that he did in the following years, such as the sets and costumes for Paisiello's Don Chisciotte at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
in 1990 and for Donizetti
's L'elisir d'amore
, a production for the Rome Opera, the Paris Opera
and the Opéra de Lausanne
, Liège and Metz
in 1995. In 2007, he designed stage and costumes for Puccini's Madama Butterfly
at the Festival Puccini
2007 in Torre del Lago
.
s. In 1998, he was committed the Palio for the Giostra della Quintana, Ascoli Piceno
. In 2000, he was awarded for his work for Palio di Asti
and in 1991 and 2009 for the Palio of the Giostra della Quintana
in Foligno
. He was chosen to design the Palio (Drappellone or banner) at the Palio dell'Assunta
in August 2007 race in Siena
.
A selected list of exhibitions and venues is the following:
Since 2010 he has been in the Honour Committee of Immagine&Poesia
, the artistic literary movement founded in Turin, Italy, with the patronage of Aeronwy Thomas
(Dylan Thomas
's daughter).
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and sculptor, particularly known for his experimental films, his applied arts works and his artistic collaborations in advertising, theater and literature.
Life and works
Nespolo graduated at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti of TurinTurin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
under Enrico Paulucci and obtained a degree in Modern Literature at the University of Turin, with a thesis on Semiology.
His career as an artist started in the 1960s and his work was influenced by Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
, which was becoming popular in Italy in those years, conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
, Arte Povera
Arte Povera
Arte Povera is a modern art movement. The term was introduced in Italy during the period of upheaval at the end of the 1960s, when artists were taking a radical stance. Artists began attacking the values of established institutions of government, industry, and culture, and even questioning whether...
and Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
, movements that he learned to appreciate during his frequent trips to the United States. After the first trip in 1967, he continued to regularly visit the States, where he spent long periods especially during th 1980s. Irony and transgression were part of his art and since then, and will characterise also all the rest of Nespolo's work in the years to come.
Since 2010 he has been in the Honour Committee of IMMAGINE&POESIA
IMMAGINE&POESIA
__notoc__IMAGE&POETRY is an international artistic literary movement, founded at Alfa Teatro, Torino, Italy in 2007. The main ideas of the movement have been written in their manifesto consisting of 10 points...
, the artistic literary movement founded in Turin, Italy, with the patronage of Aeronwy Thomas
Aeronwy Thomas
Aeronwy Bryn Thomas-Ellis translator of Italian poetry, was the second child and only daughter of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his wife, Caitlin Macnamara.-Early life:...
(Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
's daughter).
Cinema
In mid 1960s Nespolo started to apply his art also to the cinema, with a preference for artistic and experimental cinema, adopted after his American experiences. His first movie is Grazie, mamma Kodak in 1966. His friends and artists such as Lucio FontanaLucio Fontana
Lucio Fontana was an Italian painter, sculptor and theorist of Argentine birth. He was mostly known as the founder of Spatialism and his ties to Arte Povera.-Early life:...
, Enrico Baj
Enrico Baj
Enrico Baj was an Italian artist and writer on art. Many of his works show an obsession with nuclear war. He created prints, sculptures but especially collage. He was close to the surrealist and dada movements, and was later associatied with CoBrA. As an author he has been described as a leading...
, Michelangelo Pistoletto
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Michelangelo Pistoletto is an Italian painter, action and object artist, and art theorist. Pistoletto is acknowledged as one of the main representatives of the Italian Arte Povera...
and others appeared in his films. The film A.G. (1968) documents the visit in Turin of Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
. In 2001 he directed Film/a/TO, interpreted by Edoardo Sanguineti
Edoardo Sanguineti
Edoardo Sanguineti was an Italian writer who was born in Genoa.-Biography:During the 1960s he was a leader of the neo avant-garde Gruppo 63 movement, founded in 1963 at Solunto....
. Nespolo's films have been exhibited in institutions like the Beaubourg
Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
in Paris, the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw's Filmoteka Polska and Ferrara's Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna. The activity in this field has been particularly intense during the 1970s and the 2000s. He has done about twenty films over forty years.
Applied arts
In the 1980s, Nespolo began to work with applied arts, making ceramics and blown glass, created over fifty posters for a variety of exhibitions and other events, did advertising campaigns - the ones for CampariCampari
Campari is an alcoholic apéritif obtained from the infusion of herbs and fruit in alcohol and water. It is a bitters characterized by its dark red color....
and Azzurra
Azzurra
Azzurra is a yacht racing team that competes in America's Cup style sailing out of the yacht club Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.-Early history:Managed by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and funded by Aga Khan IV and Gianni Agnelli, Azzurra began to compete in 1982...
are the most famous - and realised title sequences for shows on the Italian television RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
. In 2002, Nespolo was appointed artistic coordinator for the Metropolitana di Torino
Turin Metro
The Metropolitana di Torino is a VAL metro system connecting Turin city centre, Italy, with the neighbouring city of Collegno. It is operated by Gruppo Torinese Trasporti , a public company controlled by the municipality of Turin...
, with the aim of realising the first "underground museum of modern art". Several underground stations are decorated with his glass etchings and images.
Theater
In 1986 Nespolo had the possibility of designing the stage sets for Ferruccio BusoniFerruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
’s opera Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
at Connecticut Grand Opera
Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra
The Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra is a non-profit, professional opera company and orchestra based in Stamford, Connecticut in the United States...
, Stamford
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, the first of several other works for the theatre that he did in the following years, such as the sets and costumes for Paisiello's Don Chisciotte at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements...
in 1990 and for Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
, a production for the Rome Opera, the Paris Opera
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
and the Opéra de Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Liège and Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
in 1995. In 2007, he designed stage and costumes for Puccini's Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
at the Festival Puccini
Festival Puccini
The Festival Puccini is an annual summer opera festival held in July and August to present the operas of the famous Italian composer Giacomo Puccini....
2007 in Torre del Lago
Torre del Lago
Torre del Lago is a town of almost 11,000 inhabitants, a frazione of the comune of Viareggio, in the province of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy, between the Lake of Massaciuccoli and the Tyrrhenian Sea....
.
Palio and traditions
Nespolo was recognised also for his work with PalioPalio
The oldest extant palio is the Palio di Asti, but the Palio di Siena is better known internationally. There are many other palios that are held throughout the various regions of Italy. Here follows an incomplete list:-Tuscany:...
s. In 1998, he was committed the Palio for the Giostra della Quintana, Ascoli Piceno
Ascoli Piceno
Ascoli Piceno is a town and comune in the Marche region of Italy, capital of the province of the same name. Its population is c. 51,400.-Geography:...
. In 2000, he was awarded for his work for Palio di Asti
Palio di Asti
The Palio di Asti is a traditional Italian festival of medieval origin that culminates with a bareback horse race....
and in 1991 and 2009 for the Palio of the Giostra della Quintana
Giostra della Quintana
The Giostra della Quintana was a historical jousting tournament in Foligno, central Italy. It was revived as a modern festival in 1946.The challenges takes place in June during a Saturday night and September the 2nd or 3rd Sunday of September.The definition of Quintana comes from the 5th road of...
in Foligno
Foligno
Foligno is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system...
. He was chosen to design the Palio (Drappellone or banner) at the Palio dell'Assunta
Palio di Siena
The Palio di Siena is a horse race that is held twice each year, on July 2 and August 16, in Siena, Italy...
in August 2007 race in Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
.
Selected exhibitions
Nespolo's work has been presented or hosted in major national and international exhibitions, covering his whole production.A selected list of exhibitions and venues is the following:
- Ugo Nespolo, Palazzo Reale Arengario, Milan, 1990
- International Biennale of Ceramics and Antiques, Faenza's Exhibition Center, 1990
- International Ceramics Festival, Shigaraki Ceramic World, Japan, 1991
- A Fine Intolerance (Nespolo's paintings and ceramics), Borghi and Co. Gallery, New York, 1992
- Casa d'Arte Nespolo, Palazzo della Permanenente, Milan, 1995
- Romanian Ministry of Culture, BucharestBucharestBucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, 1995 - Le Stanze dell'Arte, Promoter of the Arts Museum (Promotrice delle Belle Arti), Turin, 1996
- National Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta, MaltaMaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, 1997 - Itinerant exhibition, 1997:
- Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires
- Centra de Arte Contemporaneo de Cordoba, Chateau Carrera, CórdobaCórdoba, Spain-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
- Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno de Mendoza, Mendoza
- Museo Nacional de Artes VisualesNational Museum of Visual Arts (Uruguay)National Museum of Visual Arts is the name of a museum, Julio Herrera y Reissig esq. Tomás Giribaldi, s/n, In Parque Rodó, Montevideo, Uruguay. It was inaugurated on December 10 of 1911....
, MontevideoMontevideoMontevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
- Rocca Paolina/Spello Villa Fidelia, Perugia, 1999
- Palazzo Reale, NaplesNaplesNaples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, 2000 - Turin, berceau du cinéma italien, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2001
- 2001 Italy in Japan, Fukui, Japan, 2001
- International Sculpture at La Mandria, Villa dei Laghi, Venaria Reale (Turin), 2002
- Itinerant exhibition in Eastern Europe, 2003:
- Modern Art Gallery, Moscow
- St. Petersburg
- Minsk
- Modern Art Gallery Riga, Latvia
- Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Paris, 2003
- International Film Festival of Locarno, Switzerland, 2003
- Chinese National Museum of Peking, 2003
- Ciurlionis National Museum of Art, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2004
- Guang Dong Museum of Art of Guangzhou, Canton, China, 2004
- Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, 2004
- Fine Arts Russian Academy, St. Petersburg, 2004
- Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan, 2005
- Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong, 2005
- Dentro e Fuori, Museo Nazionale del Cinema of Turin, 2005
- The Museo del Cinema of Turin, 2008
- Italics, organized with the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 2008
- 48th Ceramics Exhibition of Castellamonte, 2008
- Nespolo. Ritorno a casa. Un percorso antologico,Biella, Italy, 2009
Since 2010 he has been in the Honour Committee of Immagine&Poesia
IMMAGINE&POESIA
__notoc__IMAGE&POETRY is an international artistic literary movement, founded at Alfa Teatro, Torino, Italy in 2007. The main ideas of the movement have been written in their manifesto consisting of 10 points...
, the artistic literary movement founded in Turin, Italy, with the patronage of Aeronwy Thomas
Aeronwy Thomas
Aeronwy Bryn Thomas-Ellis translator of Italian poetry, was the second child and only daughter of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his wife, Caitlin Macnamara.-Early life:...
(Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
's daughter).
Filmography
Nespolo's filmography includes:| Year | Title | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Grazie, mamma Kodak | |
| 1967 | Le gote in fiamme | |
| Neonmerzare | ||
| La galante avventura del cavaliere dal lieto volto | ||
| 1968 | Tucci-ucci | |
| A.G. | ||
| Boettinbianchenero | ||
| Buongiorno, Michelangelo | ||
| 1973 | Con-certo rituale | |
| 1975 | Un supermaschio | |
| 1976 | Andare a Roma | |
| 1978 | Il faticoso tempo della sicurezza (Lo spaccone) | |
| 1982 | Le porte girevoli | |
| 1984 | Fontane a Torino ovvero: alla ricerca dello zampillo perduto | as actor; director: Luciana Ros |
| 1994 | Time after time | |
| 2001 | Film/a/TO | exhibited at Turin, berceau du cinéma italien, Centre Pompidou, Paris |
| 2005 | Italiana | |
| Ativa. Un ritratto | ||
| Glance. As far as the eye can see | ||
| Dentro e fuori. Angelo Pezzana. Un ritratto | ||
| 2006 | La metro a Torino | |
| 2007 | Superglance | |
| Stefania Belmondo “Più veloce dell’aquila” | ||
| Peopling The Palaces At Venaria Reale | as actor; director: Peter Greenaway | |
| Superglance | ||