Giorgio Griffa Italy — 1936

Giorgio Griffa (b. 1936, Turin, lives and works in Turin) initially completed a law degree in 1958 and became a practising lawyer. From 1960 to 1963, he learned how to paint by assisting the Italian painter Filippo Scroppo (1910-1993). Despite early associations with movements such as Arte Povera, pittura analitica [fundamental painting] and Minimalism, his work has always stood outside the mainstream currents in contemporary art. Giorgio Griffa participated in important international exhibitions such as Prospekt, Düsseldorf (1969 and 1974) and the Venice Biennale (1978, 1980 and in 2017) as well as Processes of Visualized Thought: Young Italian Avant-garde, Kunstmuseum Luzern (1970) and A Painting Exhibition of Painters who Place Painting in Question, curated by Michel Claura, Stadtische Museum, Monchengladbach (1973). Recent solo presentations of Giorgio Griffa’s works include Uno and Due, Galleria Civica d’Art Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin (2002), Neuer Kunstverein, Aschaffenburg (2005), MACRO, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rome (2011), Golden Ratio, Mies van der Rohe Haus, Berlin (2013); A Continuous Becoming, Camden Art Centre, London (2018); Tutti i pensieri di tutti, Palazzo Collicola, Spoleto (2020-21); Marvels of the Unknown, LaM - Lille Métropole Musée d’art moderne, Villeneuve-d’Ascq (2021); La Recherche, Centre Pompidou (2022). (Source: Xavier Hufkens)